A Mother's Upbringing
by MadAngryBeaver
Summary: Instead of being abandoned by Gendo Ikari, Shinji is raised by Yui Ikari and trained to pilot Eva from a young age. Yui loves her son dearly, but she has plans for her son. How will Shinji stand to being manipulated by the woman he loves more then life?
1. Fortunate Accident

Chapter 1

Today was a big day for Yui Ikari, it would be the first activation test of Evangelion Unit-01. All the effort of her hard work would be realized today with the activation of mankind's salvation. There were still many things Yui and her friend and colleague, Naoko Akagi are the two lead scientists in the development of the Evas, but being that they were part Angels, they still didn't understand everything there was to the Evas. However, they believed that at this point in time they understood enough to activate one of the giant behemoths. Yui's husband Gendo had volunteered to be the test pilot for the activation test, Yui originally wanted to be the test pilot on this historic day, but Gendo rejected the idea and insisted that he be the pilot. Yui had the utmost confidence that everything would work fantastically today. The whole world would recognize Japan's greatness for completing the world's first Evangelion.

Yui walked down the hall towards the testing room, she looked down at her watch and saw that she still had a little time so made a quick detour towards the locker rooms. She walked into the men's locker room nonchalantly, she knew that there would only be one person in there at this time. A man was sitting on the bench wearing a blue and white plug suit, round oval shaped glasses and a beard that covered his lower jaw. He sat there with his elbows resting on his knees, hands held firmly together in front of his face, it looked as if he was in deep thought. Yui walked in quietly and didn't say anything to interrupt his concentration, she leaned against a locker and simply admired him. The man sitting on the bench finally noticed the presence of another person and turned to look into the woman's eyes with a loving gaze.

"Hello Yui, you should be heading the to the test control room right about now. What are you doing here?"

"Well Dear, I saw that I had some time and thought that I would come and see you before we started the test. I'm just worried about you, are you sure that you don't want me to be the test pilot? This is my project after all."

"It's too dangerous, I don't know what I would do if something were to happen to you. I don't think I would be strong enough to raise Shinji by myself. I want to be the pilot so that I can protect the 2 of you."

"Everything will be fine Gendo. We've tested the synch ratio between myself and Unit-01 as well as yourself and Unit-01. We should have no problems with the Eva going berserk today."

"Still I feel much better going in myself then you. I love you so much Yui."

Gendo stands up and walks towards his wife and wraps his arms around ever so passionately. Yui returns these emotions to him and wraps her arms around his neck. They stay together and take in the moment.

"Please have more confidence in my work dear, I wouldn't let you do this unless I was sure."

"Of course I have confidence in your work. I wouldn't be getting into the Eva if I didn't. It's almost time, you should head to the test control room, Naoko is probably waiting for you."

"I'll see you after the test then."

They share a brief passionate kiss and go their separate ways to face their destiny.

"Inserting entry plug."

"Spinal conduction system opened. Connection established."

"Probe needle driving in."

"Prime synch established. Analyzing nerve connections. Reading of 0.035% within limitations."

"The plug has been affixed, starting first contact."

"Flooding entry plug."

"Main power source connection complete."

"Starting secondary contact, establishing interface."

"No problems detected in A-10 nervous systems."

"LCL levels nominal."

"Japanese has been affixed as the primary mode of operation."

"No problems detected with initial contacts."

"Communication lines open."

"Risk 1405 all clear. Synapse reading: Synch rate 33.4%"

"Harmonics are in normal levels. Everything is under control."

Everyone in the room got up and cheered at today's success. Hugs were passed around as the entire room rejoiced. Yui was relieved that everything was going so well, she turned to Naoko and smiled at her with such great pride. Today was the beginning of a new age for mankind, they now possessed a weapon to defend themselves against humanities greatest threat. Yui looked down at Shinji who was standing with her, because of today her son would be able to see a future and hopefully live a happy and peaceful life.

Suddenly the alarms began to ring and the emergency red lights were flashing in the room. All of the techs who was celebrating quickly returned to their stations and checked on the status of the Eva and it's pilot.

"What's going on? Give me a status report!" Naoko hollered over the sirens.

"The synchrograph is reversing, the pulses are flowing backwards."

"Break all circuits! Block the flow!" Yui quickly gave the command.

"We can't, it's not accepting the signal."

"What about Gendo?" Yui asked, her appearance was unusually calm.

"His monitors aren't responding. His condition is unknown."

"Get him out of there right now! Eject the entry plug! Disconnect the ambilical cable!"

"Ambilical cable disconnected, but it's not responding to ejecting the plug."

"Synch ratio has jumped to 500%! It's a berserker."

Unit-01 began to move and pull against it's restraints and quickly broke them. The Eva grabbed it's head and began thrash around the room that it was in. Unit-01 dropped to its knees and began to smash the floor then got up and began to bang and punch against the walls. This continued for the 5 minute duration of the Eva's battery power supply. As soon as the giant berserker stopped thrashing around and came to a halt, the QRT entered the scene and forcefully removed the plug from the Eva. When they opened up the plug and saw the LCL gushing out of the hatch, they rusheed inside to pull the pilot to safety. However, they only found a plug suit, the body of Gendo Ikari was no where to be seen.


	2. Day to Day Life

Chapter 2

Shinji Ikari was going through his routine harmonics test for Eva Unit-01 that he had been performing for the last 12 years of his life. The synch tests were an important part of his mother's work and Shinji had no problem taking time out of his schedule to help his mother. Shinji never understood why he was selected to be the pilot for Unit-01. But as the years had gone by, Shinji produced the best results of any potential candidate. He hated Eva Unit-01. Shinji always felt an uncomfortable but familiar presence that always bothered him. It was always a battle of wills to get his synch ratio under control. Whenever Shinji asserted his will, the Synch ratio stabilized unwillingly. Shinji would blow off the pilot training and go on being a normal 16 year old boy if he could, but he couldn't bring himself to tell his mother no.

For the last 12 years Shinji had been training to be an Eva pilot. Combat training, Weapons training, obstacle courses with Unit-01, and the harmonics tests. Every day after school he would have to come to Nerv headquarters and train for long rigorous hours. All of it was a real pain in the ass for Shinji, he didn't have many friends because he was always training, he couldn't join any after school clubs, and he rarely had any free time. When Shinji was younger, he had the opportunity to learn how to play cello. But since the development of Eva advanced, he was forced to quit and spend more time for pilot training. He still played any opportunity that he got. Most kids would've loved the opportunity to be able to pilot a giant robot in the animes, but all Shinji wanted was to be with his mother. Piloting Eva was the only way for him to do that.

"Alright Shinji, your synch ratio is sitting at 81 percent. Good job, we're done for the day." Ritsuoko said over the intercom.

Shinji quickly made his way out of the entry plug, when he got out of the plug he was finally able to relax. Whenever Shinji was in the entry plug, he was always wary and on guard. Eva Unit-01 was a frightening machine, Shinji didn't feel comfortable around while he was inside of it and was always tense and on his guard. Waiting for him outside was Yui Ikari with a large smile across her face and a towel in her hand.

"Good work Shinji, today's score is your highest yet. I'm sorry making you pilot Eva Unit-01 but thank you so much for putting up with my selfish demands."

"Don't worry about it mom, I don't mind if I can help you out. Is that all for today?"

"Yes it is dear. You can go home for the day. I still have some work to do with Dr. Akagi. I'll have Misato take you home. Make yourself something to eat. Do we have food at home?"

"Yeah I still have my allowance and we have food at home. I'll make something for you as well for when you get off work."

Yui smiled at her son, gave him a hug and headed back to her office to finish up her work with Ritsuoko. Shinji was left alone, as usual. Shinji had grown up as a latch key kid since his mother was always working at Nerv. Although it was lonely at times, there were times when his mother made time for him and he always cherished those days with her.

After his mother left, Shinji headed towards the men's locker room to shower and change so that he could get home, cook dinner, and finish up his homework. On his way to the locker room he saw a young girl his age with blue hair and red eyes sitting on a bench. She was reading a book and ignoring anyone else that walked by her. As Shinji approached her, she looked up and marked the page on the book.

"Rei, ready to go home?" Shinji casually asked her.

"Hello Shinji. Yes, I am ready to go whenever you are ready to leave." Rei replied in her usual monotone voice.

"Alright, just let me hop into the shower and we can head out of here."

Shinji left Rei waiting outside the locker room and stripped himself of his plug suit when he got to his locker. He jumped into the shower and began to clean himself of the LCL.

Rei had moved into his house shortly after his father had passed away. His mother had told him that Rei was his cousin. The two had grown up to be very good friends, one of the few friends that Shinji actually had. Even though Rei and Shinji got along particularly well, Rei didn't have any friends other then Shinji. With other people she was an awkward girl and worse at socializing then Shinji was.

Shinji went into the locker room and quickly showered and changed into his clothes so that Rei would not have to wait long for him. By the time Shinji had gotten out of the locker room, Misato was with Rei waiting for Shinji. Being that Shinji was a 16 year old boy with raging hormones, he was always happy to see the hot and busty Captain.

"Misato-san!" Shinji called out as he ran to greet her.

"Hi Shinji, you get cuter and cuter every time I see you. I just might end up falling for you at this rate," Misato told Shinji in a teasing tone. However, Shinji was too stupid and drunk on Misato's beauty to realize this and ate up everything she said.

"You look beautiful as usual M…M…Mi…Misato-san," Shinji said as he tripped over his own words.

Misato smiled at the Shinji's feeble attempt at flirting and continued to lead the young teenage boy along.

"Aaaahhh… You're so cute Shin-chan, maybe I'll just take you home tonight and make a man out of you," Misato winked at Shinji as she finished her comment.

At this point Shinji was on complete meltdown and wasn't sure how to respond to the older woman.

"Well… I… um… going to be uh… cooking dinner… d…do…do…you…want to… um… join us?!"

"I would love to Shin-chan, you're so sweet. You're going to be such an excellent boyfriend."

"Will we be departing then, or will this game of cat and mouse continue?" Rei suddenly asked after having been forgotten.

"Yeah, let's get out of here. You guys must be exhausted after all those tests," Misato said as she got into the driver's seat.

The trio made it home in no time even with all the traffic in Tokyo-3. Shinji and Rei were completely unfazed by Misato's usual reckless driving through the busy streets. Misato took the 2 home on a normal basis, so they were used to the high speed turns and near death collisions with other cars.

Shinji, Misato and Rei made it home alive and well, although not quite safely. Shinji got dinner started, Rei helped, and Misato started putting away beers since she was off duty now. They enjoyed dinner, Misato had a few more beers after the meal and headed home in a slightly inebriated state. Rei and Shinji both finished up their homework for the day and went to bed. It was a typical way to finish a typical day in their lives.

Shinji laid in his bed staring at the ceiling while listening to his SDAT player, he began to contemplate about his life. It was not the life that he would have liked to have lived but he had to admit that he was happy. He only had a few friends, but he adored and trusted them. Shinji loved his mother and Misato-san and couldn't complain about their presence in his life. He was very content with how his life was playing out at the moment.

In a dark room with 15 monoliths erected in a circle and Commander Fuyutski of Nerv sitting at the center of this circle, a meeting of the fate of humanity was taking place."

"The scenario is set, the Human Instrumentality Project can now begin," Monolith 1 said.

"Eva Unit-00 still isn't ready, will that affect the scenario at all?" Monolith 6 asked.

"Unit-01 is fully operational and it's pilot is more than qualified." Monolith 8 replied.

"He is only a boy, how is it that we can trust him to carry out the scenario in the scrolls?" Monolith 5 asked suspiciously.

A woman with short brown hair stepped out from the shadows to answer the directors of Seele.

"Because he is my son, and he will do as I tell him to," Yui Ikari said confidently.

"Fuyutski, can this boy be trusted until the other Eva's in the series can be completed?"

"The boy has received all the necessary training to pilot Eva Unit-01 against the Angels. His current synch scores are higher than any of the other pilot candidates, even the child prodigy of Germany." Fuyutski replied confidently.

"Very well then, we will leave this in the hands of Nerv and the Ikari boy. This meeting is then adjourned." Monolith 1 said and disappeared as the lights around it shut down. One by one the other monoliths were consumed by the shadows as the meeting was adjourned.

"Do you believe that Shinji will follow the scenario written in the Dead Sea Scrolls?" Fuyutski asked Yui Ikari after all the monoliths had disappeared.

"Of course he will, Shinji is the perfect soldier. He will obey every order and never think of disobeying me. Failure is not an option for him, he would die from the thought of people being disappointed at his results. He will happily lay his life down for me so that I may reach my goals."


	3. Fight for your Life

Chapter 3

Shinji didn't know what to do. He had an extremely rare day off from training and tests due to maintenance that needed to be done on Eva Unit-01 and the Magi. He was psyched to actually get some free time and get a chance to be a normal high school student. He didn't know if he should just head home, do his homework and relax or if he would rather go and do something with Kensuke and Touji. Before he could decide on anything the sirens began to go off all over Tokyo-3. Shinji's heart began to sink as he heard the sirens; he had gone through enough of these drills that he knew he had to report to Nerv. This must've been why they told him there would be no tests or training today, because of the emergency drill.

Shinji made his way to Nerv on his own since Rei wasn't at school today nor had she been home for the last few days, Misato had told him there was an activation test for unit-00 a few days ago but no one had told him about what had happened afterwards. He had been worried about Rei and tried to see if she was in the medical ward at Nerv, but he couldn't find her anywhere. He had gotten a few blocks from the school when Misato's blue sports car came to a screeching halt in front of Shinji. The door opened up and Misato sat there with a casual smile on her face.

"Sorry I'm a little late Shin-chan but could you get in, we're in a hurry." Misato told him.

"It's ok Misato-san, I was going to just head over to Nerv on my own. These drills are such a pain in the ass. I actually thought I was going to get a day off today too."

A sad expression washed over Misato's face as Shinji told her this.

"B… Bu… But… But… I actually don't mind… These drills can sometime be pretty fun."

If Shinji had thought that sitting in Eva was actually fun, then he probably wouldn't have minded.

"I wish that I could take the burden of piloting Eva from you Shinji, I really do."

Shinji was a little taken back by this comment, it wasn't something he had ever heard from Misato. He didn't know what to make of it. Misato quickly rushed them to Nerv, the rest of the car ride was in silence. Instead of the usual drill of getting into his plug suit and sitting on standby in Unit-01, Misato instead took Shinji to the Command deck. The rest of the Nerv personnel were already there on standby. The main monitor was on, the display showed what looked like a giant black humanoid robot with a white face and a shiny red sphere embedded into its chest. UN Air Force ships were flying around the giant unloading their weapon payloads on the unidentified attacker. Missiles and high explosive rounds were being fired at the monstrosity. The munitions were impacting the intruder, consuming it balls of fire. Unfortunately for the UN aircraft, their weapons did nothing to stop the giant from advancing.

Commander Fuyutski was sitting on a pedestal above the other Nerv personnel, Yui Ikari was standing beside him. Fuyutski smirked as he watched the UN forces fired useless rounds of ordinance into the giant. The airships around the giant suddenly scattered leaving the area.

"I see their finally going to resort to an N2 mine. They can't penetrate the angel's AT field," Fuyutski said smugly.

Suddenly there was a giant explosion that consumed the Angel and the entire area around it.

"Shockwave approaching."

Static suddenly covered the entire monitor. The Commander continued to calmly watch the monitor.

"Well let's see if the UN's trump card was actually able to get through the Angel's AT field."

"Sensor's restored, energy reading from the explosion's epicenter. Visual restored."

The Angel was standing tall as if nothing had happened. A second face began to grow from underneath the original face and was pushed to the side of the monster. The phone in front of Commander Fuyutski began to ring and he answered it formally.

"This is Fuyutski. Yes, I understand."

He calmly hung up the phone and stepped down from his pedestal with Yui and approached Shinji.

"Shinji-kun, I wanted you in here so that you may at least witness what it is that you will be fighting against. All of your training up until now has been for this day. I need you to, No, the whole world needs you to pilot Unit-01 and fight the Angels."

Hearing the Commander's words Shinji's body shook with fear. He wasn't a soldier, he hated Eva, he didn't want to go out there and fight.

"You can't expect me actually beat that thing with Eva? I could get killed out there!"

"Shinji, please understand that you are the only one that is capable of piloting unit-01. It kills me to send my only son out there to fight, but we don't have any other options," Yui said as she looked at him with pleading eyes.

"There's no way…" Shinji said as he was on the verge of tears.

"If Shinji won't pilot then we'll have to use Rei, go wake up Rei"

Ritsuoko gave the order, "Restart Unit-01's core unit to L-00."

They wheeled Rei into the room on a gurney, she was already in her plug suit and bandaged up. She had taken some serious injuries and had not fully recovered. There was suddenly an explosion that shook the entire building and Rei fell out of the gurney. Shinji ran to her and held her limp body in his young hands.

"Rei! Are you alright?" Shinji said as he could feel blood soaking through the bandages. "I'll pilot… I'll pilot Unit-01!"

Shinji sat in the entry plug wearing his plug suit. He sat there nervously awaiting the battle that would eventually take place. Shinji had never been in a fight in his life, he was always humble and timid and tried to avoid confrontation with other kids his age. Any time someone had tried to bully him Touji would jump in and keep him from getting beaten up. Shinji was scared for his life.

"Just remember your training Shinji, and everything will be fine," Misato tried to tell him reassuringly.

"Thanks Misato-san," Shinji responded with a nervous tone in his voice.

Shinji sat in the entry as they prepped Unit-01 for its first real battle against an angel. They quickly had Unit-01 ready to go and had it at the catapult awaiting launch orders.

"Are you ready Shinji?" Misato asked him as if it mattered.

"Yes, I'm ready." Shinji replied

"Very well, Launch!"

The catapult launched Unit-01 several kilometers per second towards the surface, Shinji squeezed the Eva's control yokes as hard as he could and kept his eyes shut as the G-forces pressed down upon him. Eva unit-01 reached the surface in almost no time at all, and came to an abrupt halt as the shock system caught unit-01. When Shinji opened his eyes when he felt that the G-forces were no longer pushing down on him, he saw the same giant black angel that he had seen on the main screen of the command deck. He felt the locking mechanisms of the catapult release him giving the freedom to move, but he was too scared to do anything. His heart was racing, breathing was heavy, and his palms were sweaty from squeezing the control yokes.

"Shinji! What are you doing? You need to attack!" Misato screamed at him over the communication system.

Misato's order's knocked a little bit of sense into him, but he was still nervous in his first fight against an angel.

"Large energy source building up in target!" Aoba hollered.

Shinji saw the Angel's eyes flash and in that brief moment his training took over and Unit-01 tried to jump to the side to dodge the energy attack. A cross shaped explosion erupted from where Unit-01 had been standing. Shinji was a little too slow in dodging the attack and was still hit by the explosion but avoided taking any serious damage. Unit-01 flew through the air a few hundred meters and several buildings. Shinji could feel pain throughout his body from the explosion and all the buildings that he had flown through. He slowly got up and tried to find where the Angel was. Shinji didn't see the Angel anywhere in sight, he happened to look up and saw that the Angel was soaring high above Unit-01 and was coming down towards him very fast.

Unit-01 rolled out of the way to prevent the Angel from landing on top of him, but Unit-01 was still in arm's reach and the Angel grabbed him by the head. The Angel picked him up by his head and an energy spike from the angel's hand began banging against Unit-01's cranial armor. The pain was unbearable for Shinji and he was screaming in pain. As the Angel held Unit-01 in the air, Unit-01 began kicking the Angel in its chest where the shiny red sphere resided. With Shinji kicking the Angel's chest, the Angel's grip on Unit-01 slowly began to loosen and with one final kick, the Angel let go of Unit-01's head. The Angel was thrown back from the force of the last kick and Shinji flew back and landed on his back.

As Shinji lay on his back, he began losing consciousness and could also feel the awkward familiar presence fighting Shinji for control. Shinji fought for control like he had to so many times before during his training and tests. He realized that it was either fight or die, and his fear was kicking in overdrive. Shinji quickly got up and was panting heavily. He didn't feel the pain as badly anymore with all the adrenaline running through his body. Unit-01 stood with a hunched back, when its jaw broke through the armor holding it together. Unit-01 and Shinji roared in unison and started to charge the Angel as it was recovering from the kicks to its chest. Unit-01 collided hard with an orange hexagonal barrier.

"Let me in you bastard!" Shinji screamed.

Unit-01's AT field began to expand and started eroding away at the Angel's AT field. Once the Angel's AT field was completely gone, Unit-01 threw a right straight at the Angel's chest and followed it with a kick. The Angel flew back and crashed into another building before it came to a stop. Shinji jumped at the Angel and pulled out his prog knife as he flew through the air. Unit-01 landed atop of the Angel and plunged the sonic vibrating knife into the Angel's core. Sparks began showering the area all around, this didn't last long though. The Angel suddenly wrapped itself around unit-01's head and turned into a black sphere. A large explosion consumed Unit-01 and a square kilometer area around them.

The explosion erupted into the air forming a giant cross of energy.

"Shinji!" Yui yelled as she saw the explosion consume the 2 monsters fighting.

"Shinji are you ok?" Misato tried communicating through the come system. "Do we have communication with Unit-01?" Misato asked with a concerned tone in her voice.

"Negative, the explosion is disrupting the communication lines," Hyuga responded.

"Signals read a pattern emerging from the blast," Maya informed the command deck.

On the screen a single monstrous shadow stepped out from the explosion as if it were completely unaffected from the blast. The figure of Unit-01 could be seen on the screen walking away from the explosion as if the exploding angel had not even phased Unit-01.

Yui Ikari smiled with pride for both her son for having defeated the angel successfully and for her creation. The Evangelions truly were man's greatest creations, and with them they would crush the Angels.


	4. People Who Care

Chapter 4

Shinji walked out of the explosion with his AT field protecting Unit-01. He was tired, on the verge of passing out, but he refused to give in just yet and have the darkness consume him. He fought with all of his might to stay conscious until he was safely out of the cockpit. Shinji walked Unit-01 a safe distance away from the explosion, and manually ejected the entry plug from Unit-01. Shinji made his way out of the plug and descended towards the ground. He was close and he almost made it, but he couldn't hold out anymore and he passed out, falling towards the soft dirt a few feet below him.

When Shinji came to his senses, he was in a Nerv hospital bed staring at ceiling that he had become quite familiar with in his years piloting Eva. His body was hurting from the areas that he had received damage. It was nothing serious, but an annoyance none the less. He looked around the room and saw his mother and Misato sitting in chairs by his bedside. He smiled when he saw them, the two women in his life that had cared and influenced him his time growing up. It probably would've been better to have stayed in the entry plug, but the idea terrified him. He couldn't say why it scared him, but it sent chills down his spine to not be able to control the entity inside unit-01. Shinji sat there and watched his mother and Misato sleep and wondered how long they had been at his bedside for. It was Misato who eventually stirred first and saw that Shinji was awake.

"Shinji your awake," Misato exclaimed with such excitement that it woke Yui as well. She jumped out of her chair to give Shinji a painfully tight hug. "How are you feeling? You had us scared to death when we found you outside on the ground. Why didn't you just stay in the entry plug?" She finally released Shinji from the death grip and allowed him room to breathe.

"I'm feeling fine Misato-san, it was feeling stuffy inside the entry plug so I thought I would wait outside the Eva. But I didn't realize that I would be so tired."

"Always so brash, well now that I know that you're OK, I can focus on my work now. You did a good job out there today Shinji." Misato said as she ruffled up his hair. This caused slight discomfort to Shinji's sore muscles and wounded areas, but he tried not to let it show. Misato quietly left the room so that Yui could be alone with her son.

After the door had closed from Misato's exit, Yui gave her son a gentle but firm hug that didn't cause him any sort of pain. She gave him a kiss on the forehead that made Shinji blush slightly. What 16 year old boy got kissed on the forehead by his mother? He could understand that she and Misato were worried about him after his first sortie with an Angel.

"I'm so glad that you're ok Shinji, were you scared out there?" Yui asked her son.

"Yes… I actually thought that I was going to die out there. Is this why I've been training all these years?"

"Yes Shinji, I didn't want you to be the one to have to fight those monsters. I was hoping that we would find another to pilot Eva into battle, but you were the most qualified one to use Unit-01. You were our greatest chance of success."

"I see… Is there any chance that a replacement can still be found?" Shinji asked with a glint of hope in his eyes.

"I'm sorry my dear Shinji, all the other candidates that we have tried failed at syncing with Unit-01. Rei was able to sync, but her sync ratio barely passes the minimum threshold." Yui said with tears welling up in her eyes.

Seeing his mother crying, Shinji suddenly felt extremely guilty for putting his mother on the verge of tears. He had received training on how to pilot the Eva his entire life, he was able to apply his training to defeat the monster known as an Angel, he was the only one who was able to pilot Unit-01.

"I'm sorry, you don't have to worry Mom. I'll still pilot Eva, and I'll protect you and everyone else in Tokyo-3." Shinji said with what little confidence that he was able to muster at the moment.

"Thank you Shinji." Yui said wiping the tears from her eyes, "I should let you rest. When the doctors are done with you, Captain Katsuragi will take you and Rei home."

Having said that she got up out of her seat and headed for the door. As Yui Ikari was about to leave the room, she stopped and turned to Shinji.

"Shinji, you did a good thing out there, and I'm proud of you," Yui told her son with a smile. She quietly left Shinji in the room by himself.

Shinji considered the turn of events that had taken place that day and what other battles possibly loomed in his near future. As he lay there with thoughts running through his mind, he drifted off to sleep. Outside the room, Commander Fuyutski stood by the door waiting for Yui Ikari to exit the room.

"How is he doing?" Fuyutski asked.

"He's resting, he's worn out from the battle. " Yui responded.

"What is the condition of Unit-01?"

"Unit-01 received minor damage from the battle and the first binding is being repaired as we speak."

"That bothers me. How is it that the binding was destroyed when Shinji was in full control of the Eva?"

"Ritsuoko is looking into that as we speak. It defies everything that we know of the Evangelions. My theory is that Shinji was just barely under control, he was only directing the Eva towards the Angel, and Unit-01 did the rest of the work. If Shinji had lost anymore control of the Eva, then it would've gone completely berserk."

"So by losing himself, he unleashed the beast, but by pure will power, he maintained control of the berserker. Your son is remarkable Yui, he was born to pilot Eva," Fuyutski said as he rubbed his chin, looking fascinated.

A smile spread across her face at Kozo's comment, "Yes he is. With his skill and my direction, the scenario will play out exactly as we desire. And I will be the mother of God."

"What makes you think that the bird will not leave the nest and learn to fly on his own?"

"Because of love, my love for him and his love for me will keep him close to me."

Commander Fuyutski was slightly unnerved by this comment, when had his beloved pupil become so ambitious and manipulative? This was her own son that she was speaking of using; there was no denying that she loved the boy, but to use her own child so indifferently.

Shinji was allowed to leave the hospital the next day, and was permitted to attend school the following day. Shinji had already been in the hospital for a few days, and he had hated the ceiling in the hospital room, it was so cold and eerie. Once he got home, he had a stack of homework to do that Rei had gotten for him while was resting in the hospital bed. Shinji sighed at having a double life, balancing home work and his normal life with his life as an Eva pilot. Being the studious person that he was he started working on his oldest assignments first. A few hours later when he was about half way done with his assignments, Shinji heard a knock at his door.

"Come in!"

Rei walked into Shinji's room, dressed in her school uniform as usual. She hadn't been home when Shinji got back from the hospital, so she must have just gotten back from either Nerv or school. She stood in front of Shinji for moment just staring at him, her eyes slowly began watering and she gave him a hug.

"Shinji… I am glad that you are ok. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there when they released you from the hospital."

"Rei… It's alright. I'm here and there's nothing wrong with me. How has school been?"

"School is school... I have a request…"

"Yeah?"

"Could you tell me what happened during the battle with the Angel?"

"…"

The battle against Sachiel was something that Shinji did not want to recount. Shinji had never been so scared in his life; he had thought that he was going to die against the Angel. And what scared him more than anything was that there were more to come. Sachiel was only the first of the Angels, he could only hope that the other Eva models would get completed so that he wouldn't have to bear the burden alone.

"It… it… it was… something that I don't want to do again." Shinji could feel cold sweat running down his back as he tried to recall the events of the battle.

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have asked. I'll see you in the morning to go to school." Rei said and quickly left the room and closed the door behind her, feeling embarrassed because she should have realized that Shinji would not want to talk about the battle. Standing outside of Shinji's room, Rei dropped to the floor and began to sob.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't pilot in your place… Please don't take it too hard on yourself; there was nothing you could do to have saved him…"

* * *

A/N: Hey thank you everyone who put my story on alert, I didn't expect that many of you to actually read it and put an alert on it. I don't expect to let this story die in anyway, I hate it when a new story is put out and it never gets updated. Initially I was going to finish the entire series before I decided to post it, but I got a random urge to just post it to see if it would actually get any views. Well I'm glad that you guys have enjoyed the first three chapters so far and I plan on releasing a new chapter every week around this time.

I would love for you guys to give me more feedback on my story though, tell me what I messed up on and what I should improve on. Story ideas are appreciated as well, any type of advice that you guys can possibly offer. Thanks.


	5. Collateral Damage

Chapter 5

Shinji made his way to school feeling glad that he was actually going to be back in school after the long days of being bed ridden in the hospital. He walked to school with Rei, Shinji was in a good mood to be seeing his friends who he had protected from the Angel. He had to remember that protecting his friends, family and the people of this city was important. He would keep on fighting the Angels so that he could protect them. Rei was oddly quiet the entire walk to school and seemed somewhat anxious.

"Is something wrong Rei?"

"I'm concerned with how you will be once we get to school."

Shinji stopped walking.

"Why? What's going to happen once I get to school?"

"You will find out once you get there."

This was very typical of Rei, she was straight forward but she refused to tell him what she didn't want to tell him. She had been this way ever since they were children, it was her odd way of trying to be considerate of his feelings. There was something definitely wrong, but he wasn't going to get an answer until he got to school. It was obviously something bad enough that Rei neither wanted to tell him nor have him find out about. Shinji got worried but he continued on his way to school.

When the two pilots reached the school gate, there was a dark somber mood in the air. There was no laughing or cheery conversation. Students quietly walked onto the school grounds in a depressed mourning attitude.

"What's going on…?"

He looked around and saw that Rei had already gone to the classroom without him. On his way to his class, he noticed that there weren't as many students as there usually was. The students that were left were all agitated, scared, and depressed. Once he got to his classroom, he quickly spotted Touji and Hikari. They were just like everyone else.

"Touji, Hikari, What's going on? Where is everyone?"

"Ikari-kun! Thank God you're alright. Ayanami-san told us that you got injured when the battle occurred." Hikari said as she gave him a hug.

Shinji looked over at Touji and he sat in his seat brooding, heated and pissed. When he looked up and realized that it was Shinji, his face lightened up a bit.

"Shinji, it's good to see you. I knew that you were in the hospital too, but we didn't know what your condition was." Touji said as if he relieved a bit of weight off his shoulders. "Have you heard anything about Kensuke?"

"Kensuke? No I haven't, what happened to him?" Shinji asked suddenly realizing what it was that Rei didn't want him to find out. His face started to turn pale at what he might hear.

"He got hurt when that monster and that damned robot were fighting in the city. Damn idiot, what did that pilot think he was doing by fighting in the middle of the city? You think he would've been more careful knowing that people could possibly be around." Touji was fuming.

"It was a battle for life or death, not a video game. The pilot did what he had to in order defeat the Angel, stay alive, and minimize damage to the city. Everyone else that is alive right now would be dead if not for the actions that he took." Rei said in her usual cold and blunt logic, but her voice carried some acid and spite directed at Touji. Touji was taken back at Rei's sudden comment.

"Well… I'm not saying that the pilot should've been more concerned of who could've been around…" Touji said feebly justifying himself.

"It is regrettable that Kensuke was injured, but the reason that he was injured is because he wanted to witness the battle."

"_Ding dong dang_… All students please assemble at the gymnasium for the ceremony to begin," a voice said of the intercom system.

"Ceremony? What's the ceremony for?" Shinji asked with a confused look on his face.

"It's so that we may pay our respects to everyone who was killed during the attack," Hikari tells him.

Shinji's knees buckled from underneath him, and he was barely able to catch himself on a nearby desk. His thoughts were racing through his mind.

'This wasn't supposed to happen… I saved the city! How is it that all these people are dead? Weren't they supposed to be in shelters during the fight?' Shinji thought to himself.

Rei came up to his side and helped him steady himself and they made their way to the gymnasium. The gym was only half full and it was easy for them to find seats with their other friends. A horrible thought popped into Shinji's head as to why so many students were missing.

"Rei, why are there so many empty seats? Was it really this many people that died during the battle?"

"No, the number of casualties was actually less than 1% of the population. After the battle, many families moved away because they did not want to be in a city that was a battlefield."

"That's a good idea, everyone else here should do the same."

The ceremony started off with the Principal giving a speech on the tragic events of earlier that week, and that their hearts go out to the friends and families of those who had lost loved ones. The principal then began reading a short list of names of people that were still recovering in the hospital. Shinji listened and expected to hear someone he knew, but it was all strangers that he didn't even know, and he didn't hear Kensuke's name either. Shinji started to feel a little better, thinking that maybe Kensuke was already out of the hospital.

Next the Principal asked everyone to come to the stage and light some incense for the students who had passed away. On the stage, there was a small table with pictures of everyone that had died. Shinji and his friends went up to the table to take their turn. Shinji began lighting the incense and gazed upon the pictures of the students who had died in the attack. There was 14 total, one by one Shinji burned the images of each student into his mind and tried to think what interactions he had had with them. Finally he got to one that he had many interactions with, one he had talked to everyday, one that was one of his closest friends.

"Wait, What is Kensuke's picture doing on here? He's supposed to be at the hospital!" Shinji began screaming at the Principal.

"His body was weak when they admitted him, he died a few days ago in the hospital." The principal told Shinji remorsefully.

"No… no… no… NO! I killed the Angel! Everyone was supposed to have been saved! Why are all these people dead when I fought so damn hard to protect you all!" Shinji screamed at the principal and the rest of the gymnasium with everything he had. Shinji collapsed to the floor on his hands and knees, crying for all those he wasn't able to save.

"Shinji… you're the pilot of that robot?" Touji asked

Rei stepped in before anymore classified information could be divulged. She put Shinji's arm around her shoulders and lifted him to his feet. Rei walked Shinji off the stage and took him to the school infirmary.

"There was nothing that you could have done to save them, otherwise you would have become incapacitated and even more people would have died."

Shinji suddenly pulled himself away from Rei and was able to stand on his own.

"How do you know that? While I was out there I was terrified! The angel threw me around the city because of how scared I was. The only reason that I was able to kill it was because I didn't want to die!"

"That is perfectly normal. It is understandable that you were scared being that you have never been in combat before. You cannot protect everyone, if you blame yourself for all the people that die from the Angel's attacking, you will be crushed from your own grief. Keep in mind all the people that you have saved."

Shinji stood there trying to think about what Rei had just told him, and stared off into space.

"I need time to think on this… Tell my mother not to worry."

Shinji turns and walks away without another word. Rei stands and watches him leave, she would still get confused on many human emotions, but she had a special understanding of Shinji. He only needed to resolve the issue on his own, there would be no reasoning with him until he was able to come to terms with himself. So she let him walk out of the school and said nothing.

Shinji wandered around Tokyo-3 for a day and a half. He went aimlessly to parks, movie theaters, down random roads, red light districts, and half the time he didn't know where he was. Finally he ended up on one of the lower cliffs of Mt. Fuji overlooking the city. He just kept thinking on Kensuke's death. If people were still dying even though he fought the Angels, then what was it that he was doing? All his life, he only did what his mother told him to do. She told him to pilot Eva so he did. He had no real desire to, Eva scared the shit out of him, but just for her sake he got into that monster day in and day out. Now because of his reckless piloting, one of his best friends was now dead.

"God damn it! I FUCKING HATE EVA! WHY DO I NEED TO PILOT IT?!" Shinji said as he broke down on the side of the road. "I can't even protect my own friends, what good am I?"

Even from the side of the mountain, Shinji could hear the siren alarm. Cold sweat began pouring down his face and back. An Angel was on its way to the city, it would take him several hours to make it back to Nerv and suit up. Then what? He would go out and fight against the Angel? He would risk his life and the lives of those he cared for to defend the city. But who would go out and fight the Angel if Shinji chose not to fight?

Shinji suddenly saw the sky scrapers of Tokyo-3 dropping into the ground. The city was turning itself into a fortress, towers mounted with guns and rocket launchers began rising in place of the sky scrapers. A lift elevator rose from the ground and opened up to reveal what had risen from the depth of the geo-front, an orange Unit-00 stepped out, grabbed a rifle and ducked behind a building waiting for the target. Shinji's heart dropped at seeing the orange Unit-00 enter the battlefield. Shinji began running down the mountain as fast as he could.

After running for a little while, Shinji could see the Angel approaching the city, it had a long slender cylindrical body and large shovel shaped head. The city's automated defenses were firing thousands of tax payer's dollars at the Angel, unable to inflict damage to the insect body of the Angel. The ordinance fired at the Angel was like pebbles being shot at a bear. The explosives rounds could do nothing to the Angel's impenetrable AT field.

Shinji was running as fast as his legs would carry him while thinking of Rei. Shinji was a much better pilot then Rei, there would be no way that Rei could defeat the Angel. Shinji's synch ratio and combat skills were superior to Rei's in every way. Shinji ran down the road for a couple of hundred meters until he found a bicycle that quickly commandeered without hesitation. He biked his way to Nerv with haste, with the sounds of explosions booming and buildings collapsing in the distance.


	6. Substitute

Chapter 6

Nerv was in chaos. The Angel was on its way to Tokyo-3 and Shinji was nowhere to be found. Nerv Security Intelligence had lost track of the Third Child and could not find him. Rei was on the command deck with the rest of the heavy collars of Nerv. Dr. Akagi, Captain Katsuragi, Dr. Ikari, and Commander Fuyutski were discussing their options.

"How did NSI lose track of Shinji? Isn't their primary mission to insure the safety of the pilots?" Misato was furious at NSI's incompetence.

"The Angel is 100 kilos away. At its current speed, the Angel will arrive in about an hour. We need to send out Rei." Dr. Akagi was trying reason with the others that sending out Rei was the only option.

"What is the first child and Unit-00's synch ratio?" Fuyutski asked calmly.

"It's a little above 40%, it should be sufficient enough for her to fight the Angel and buy us time to find Shinji should she fail." Yui Ikari stated factually.

"So we're going to just throw Rei's life away to buy us time?" Misato exclaimed with confusion. "She doesn't stand a chance against the Angel with only a 40% synch ratio. Shinji's was 80% against the last Angel, and he almost got killed."

"Captain Katsuragi, we cannot depend solely on the third child to defeat all of the Angels to come. If he should ever become disabled from a battle, then we must rely on the other children to carry on the fight." Commander Fuyutski calmly stated to Katsuragi.

"These are children that we are sending out into battle sir. Our first priority should be their safety and survival," Misato argued.

"I will pilot," Rei said with a strong voice, "I will fight the Angel."

"Do you know what you're saying Rei?" Misato asked.

"Yes, I wish to fight the Angel. I will defeat it so that Shinji does not have to suffer the pain of piloting Eva." Rei said in a calm voice.

"Get the pilot prepped and get Unit-00 ready for launch," the Commander ordered.

Rei was sitting in the cock pit of Unit-00 ready to be launched into battle. She wasn't nervous, wasn't feeling any anxiety, she was completely calm. Rei's bond with Unit-00 was unlike Shinji's bond to Unit-01. Shinji's bond with Unit-01 was one founded on distrust, hate, and respect. There was a constant struggle for control whenever Shinji synched with Unit-01, Shinji would make Unit-01 bend to his will and thus earn the respect of the Eva. Rei's bond was very different, she had no connection to Unit-00, not one based on hate or love, it was just empty. This was why her synch ratio scores would never be as high as Shinji's scores.

"Are you ready to launch Rei?" Maya asked her through Rei's com.

"Yes, I am ready to launch at anytime."

"Launch sequence initiated. Launching in… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… LAUNCH!"

The catapult rocketed Unit-00 up the shaft that led to the surface. Rei gripped her control yokes tightly as the g-forces were pushed down on her. Rei reached the surface quickly and the locking bolts released her into the city. A weapon depot opened up near her and she grabbed a rifle with a progressive blade mounted underneath the barrel to act as a bayonet. She saw the angel approaching the city in the distance and advanced toward the edge of the city and took cover behind a building.

Unit-00 peeked around a building and locked her sights in on the incoming Angel. The Angel had a long slender cylindrical purple body with a shovel shaped head. When the Angel got closer to the city, it decided to stand up straight and its' headed tilted forward. As it continued its advanced towards the city, tentacles of pink energy extended from what could possibly be the Angel's arms. As it got within range of Unit-00's rifle, Rei pulled the trigger and unleashed a short volley; the rounds hit the Angel but didn't seem to have an effect. Not bothering to wait for the Angel to counterattack, Rei quickly moved her position so that she was behind another building. It was a good thing too, because the building she had just moved from was sliced to pieces by the Angel's deadly tentacles.

"Rei, those tentacles seem to have a reach of about 200 yards. Try to keep your distance, attack from afar for now until we can think of a way to neutralize those tentacles."

"Roger."

Rei broke into a sprint to open up the distance, when she looked behind her and saw that she was over 500 yards away, she jumped into the air while spinning around and unloaded the rest of her clip on the Angel. A smoke cloud enshrouded the Angel to the point that they could no longer see each other. Rei grabbed her rifle like a spear and hurled it at the dust cloud. The Angel emerged from the dust cloud, as the rifle's blade approached the Angel, it was deflected by one of the tentacles. With one quick snap of the energy whip, the rifle was sliced in half and fell harmlessly to the floor.

"Ranged attacks are ineffective, I'm going to move in for close quarter combat," Rei announced her plan to the Nerv Command Deck. The shoulder pylon opened up and Unit-00 drew her progressive knife.

"Rei that's crazy! Retreat through escape route 49 and we will find another way to deal with the Angel or stall until we can find Shinji," Misato gave the order to Rei over the com.

Rei shut off her com system so that she could block out Captain Katsuragi's objections to her plans. She was determined to prove that she could defeat this Angel, so that they wouldn't have to send Shinji out on every mission. She would protect him and carry his burden.

Unit-00 charged the Angel with progressive knife drawn. The Angel responded by lashing out with its whips at the incoming Eva. Rei saw the incoming tentacle attack and tried to dodge, but because her synch rate wasn't on pars with Shinji's rate, Unit-00 was able to dodge the attack but its umbilical cable took the hit. Unit-00 was left with 5 minutes of power. Rei gritted her teeth and dove for the Angel, a tentacles came up and struck Unit-00 several times across the chest and then a tentacle grabbed the Eva's leg and threw Rei and Unit-00 across the city.

When Rei landed she was in terrible pain from the attacks from the Angel. The Angel flew over to Unit-00's position, getting ready to attack. Rei was about recovered from the hit by the time the angel got to her location and Unit-00 had its progressive knife still in hand. When the Angel lashed out with its tentacle arms, Unit-00 grabbed one of the tendrils with its left hand and jammed the prog knife carried by her right hand into the Angel's core. Unit-00 still took hits from the tentacle that Rei wasn't able to protect herself from. Rei released her grip on the prog knife as its sonic blade ate into the Angel's core, with Unit-00's free hand she reached for another prog knife stored in the opposing shoulder pylon. It grabbed the second prog knife while being pummeled by the Angel's free appendage. She took her second prog knife and plunged it into the Angel's core.

The free tentacle stabbed into Unit-00 and tried moving the deadly energy whip to cause more damage. Rei screamed in pain from being stabbed, and guided Unit-00 to try and removed the tentacle piercing her body.

After a few moments the Angel's core swelled up and exploded releasing a flood of blood onto Unit-00. The tentacles that extended from the Angel's arms lost their pink glow of energy and became motionless.

By the time Shinji had gotten to Nerv HQ, Rei was already being treated by Nerv's medical branch. Shinji waited outside the OR praying for her to come out of this alive. The doctors had told him that she had taken serious damage in the Eva and if she survived her wounds, she would be in the ICU for a few weeks. Shinji waited and prayed as Misato came up and sat with Shinji.

"She was determined to defeat the Angel in your place," Misato told Shinji.

"She's so much braver then I am. If I hadn't run away like a coward, the she wouldn't have had to fight the Angel. My synch scores are better than hers, but she still went out there willing to fight. I'm worthless…"

"It's because she was fighting to protect something important to her, that she wasn't scared to go out into battle."

Misato had to commend Rei for the battle against the Angel, even though Shinji was more skilled at piloting, Rei was more tactically proficient then Shinji was. She hadn't wasted any of her movements and all her attacks were well planned and effective.

Shinji closed his eyes tight as he thought about those sensations that came over him when he was fighting the Angel.

"Eva scares me so much. Every time I get into it, I wonder if I'm going to come back out of it."

"War and dying are terrible things Shinji, it's perfectly understandable for you to be scared. It was your first time in combat. I'm sorry that us worthless adults need to dump our problems on you teenagers. I wish that you didn't have to carry the responsibility of the world on your shoulders, I would gladly pilot Eva in your place if I could."

"No…No one is going pilot Eva in my place ever again," Shinji said with a firm voice as he stood up. "Because I didn't pilot, Rei is now injured and could possibly die. I won't let anyone else take that burden."

"Shinji…"

Shinji looked down at Misato and smiled. "I will protect everyone. I won't run away, I won't die, no one else will die because of me."

Misato looked at Shinji and suddenly realized that her little Shin-chan had grown up and become a man. When did he grow up? She had known him for so many years and she never noticed how big and handsome he had become. She smiled and felt some confidence that the world was in good hands.

"What is the damage to Unit-00?" Keel, obelisk 1 asked in a cold hallowed voice.

"The damage is extensive, there shouldn't be any complications with its repair, but it will take some time." Yui Ikari answered.

"This scenario wass not written in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Unit-01 should've defeated Shamshel," Obelisk 4 voiced in objection.

"It does not matter how the Angel's fall, it only matters that the Angels do no reach Lilith and the end scenario is completed as the scrolls say." Keel states to the committee.

"I can assure you that the Angels will fall," Fuyutski reassured.

"I wonder though, the pilot of Unit-01 is superior to the pilot of Unit-00. Why is it that Unit-00 was sent out to combat?" Obelisk 7 asked.

"Yes… That is most curious," Keel commented.

"Unit-01 was on standby. We thought it would be wiser to send Unit-00 who is more expendable to retrieve battle data on Shamshel before sending out Unit-01." Yui Ikari tells Seele with an unwaivering tone.

"I see… That was a wise decision. It is good that the pilot of Unit-00 was as resourceful as she was," Keel said. "This meeting is adjourned."

One by one each of the obelisks quietly vanished into the darkness. Only Yui Ikari and Commander Fuyutski were left in the dark room.

"If Shinji had been present, then we would've sent him out to battle the Angel. It was fortunate that we had succeeded in the activation test of Unit-00 while Shinji was in the hospital," Fuyutski said as he relaxed from the old men were no longer present.

"Yes… What the hell happened anyways? How did NSI lose Shinji anyways? And why did he feel the need to roam around the city for 2 days?" Yui Ikari said with an irritated tone in her voice.

"According to Rei, Shinji broke down at school when he discovered that one of his classmates had died. He left school and never came back."

"Damn it all. It's too early in the scenario for him to show any signs of rebellion. I need to re-administer control measures over him."

"Yui, he is a growing boy. Children become rebellious and learn to become independent of their parents. This is all natural."

"NO! I won't allow my dear boy to abandon me before my dreams are realized."

With that being said Yui Ikari left the conference room in a storm of fury. Fuyutski watched her leave and sighed, she had learned much from Gendo during their time together, or had she always been like this? Fuyutski was concerned for Yui's son, Shinji was a good kid, nothing like his father at all. He was scared to find out how Shinji might react if he discovered his mother's true intentions.

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I love writing out battle scenes, building up character bonds and having character interactions are important, but battles are exciting on screen and paper. I would love it if you guys would review or critique the chapters and tell me what I could've improved on.

Dark Reflection, You're right that it would've been better to show some interactions between Touji, Kensuke, and Shinji before killing of Kensuke. I toyed around with multiple scenarios, but I couldn't think of a natural way to get him to Nerv when the Angel attacked. I had figured that people would just assume that they were friends, since they were friends in the original series. As for Nerv losing track of Shinji, they did it all the time in the anime. Asuka runs away too and they find her in that broken bath tub all malnourished. He wandered for a couple of days after the fight with shamshel, and it was Nerv Security Intelligence that finds him. I never understood where everyone got the idea of section 2 from.


	7. Memories

Chapter 7

A week had passed and Rei was still hospitalized in a comatose state. Yui had been going to work less then she usually did and spending more time with Shinji. The two came and visited Rei every day, Yui was still the director of the Eva project, so she still needed to attend work and take care of day to day business. But she was able to unload the unimportant parts of work onto Ritsuoko and her assistants.

Shinji visited everyday that week, hoping that she would wake up and tell him that she was alright. He couldn't stop thinking about how he had failed her. Because of his cowardice and his lack of resolve, she had been forced to fight the Angel in Shinji's place. Shinji's own synch rate was close to double Rei's synch rate, but she still went out, battled the Angel, and was victorious. Shinji could only commend Rei for her courage, resolve, and skills at piloting Eva. Shinji sat by her bed and held her hand in his own.

"Please Rei… wake up… I'm sorry… next time I'll keep you safe… I won't let anything to happen to you," Shinji begged.

Yui Ikari walked into the room as Shinji watched over Rei's unconscious body. She walked over to Shinji by the bed side and placed her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. It was always strange for her to deal with Rei. She could say that Rei was her own daughter since she was created from her own flesh and blood, but she didn't see her as a daughter. She cared for Rei since she had always been so close to Shinji and always looked after him. For Shinji's sake, she hoped Rei would be wake from her vegetable state.

"Don't worry, she'll wake up and come back to us," Yui told Shinji trying to comfort him.

Even if Rei never did wake up, for Shinji's sake, she would make sure that Rei did come back so that he could have his companion again.

Rei slept peacefully, completely unfazed by Shinji's feeble pleas. Her mind was at the bottom of an abyss that the light of the sun could never hope to reach. In the depths of the dark abyss, thoughts of events already passed surfaced in Rei's mind. She couldn't remember anything about her mother or her father, but she could remember one person from her childhood, and that was Shinji. Rei's thoughts drifted to the memory of when she first met Shinji.

^_^_^_^_^

12 Years ago…

"Shinji-kun, this is your cousin Ayanami Rei," Yui introduced.

A young 4 year old boy holding a stuffed penguin walked up to the woman and the young girl with a blank expression on her face. He stared at the odd girl with blue hair and red eyes who appeared to act like one of his dolls.

"Hi! I'm Shinji," Shinji said and then put his stuffed penguin in front of him and tooted, "and this is Pen-Pen."

The girl didn't know how to respond to the boy and his stuffed penguin.

"Rei-san? Are you ok?" Shinji asked the girl in a confused tone.

"Why does the penguin have a name? It isn't real," Rei stated in a monotonous voice.

Shinji frowned at Rei's unusual comment about Pen-Pen.

"Of course he's real! And he has a name because he's my friend!" Shinji rebuttled, believing that his arguement was completely sound.

Rei did not understand the boy's logic, but he was different from all the other people that she had met so far. The boy in front of her piqued her interest.

^_^_^_^_^

8 years later…

"Commence Activation," Yui Ikari commanded.

"Connecting main power to all circuits," Ritsuoko responded.

"Power supply connected. Commencing activation system," Maya announced, "Activation voltage is reaching critical level."

"Second phase of activation"

"Pilot has begun linkup"

"Start system phase-2"

"Synapses inserted, junctions connecting."

"Transmitting pulse, all circuits are operational."

"All nerve links check out normal."

"Prepare for third stage connection."

"Counting down to absolute border line. 0.9… 0.5… 0.4… 0.3… Pulses are flowing backwards!"

Unit-00 began to squirm around within the solid steel constraints that held it in place. Slowly the locking mechanisms started to give away to the raw power of Unit-00. Yui Ikari's eyes opened wide in panic at what was unfolding in front of her.

"Cut off all connections and redirect the pulse flow!" Yui hollered the command, "What is the contamination of the plug?"

"Plug contamination is at 34% and rising!"

"Begin filling the chamber with the bakalite!"

There was a small explosion of air, gas, and pressure from the back of Unit-00 and the entry plug came flying out. The plug's boosters propelled it through the room causing it to crash into the wall and fly around the chamber randomly.

"Rei!" Yui screamed as she witnessed the plug eject.

The entry plug's booster eventually gave out and dropped to the deck. The plug hit the floor with a loud crash and bounced off the deck.

"Get the quick response team out there and recover Rei from the plug ASAP!" Yui said as she ran out of the room to get to the chamber where Rei's plug was on the floor.

When Yui Ikari got into the testing chamber and to Unit-00's entry plug the QRT was already there opening up the plug. Yui pushed past QRT members to get to Rei, one of the QRT members was carrying her little body out of the plug in their arms.

"Rei! Rei! Are you alright?"

Rei could hear a distant voice calling her name, she didn't recognize who the voice belonged to, but it sounded scared. She could see blurry outlines of people around her, had no idea as to who each of them could possibly be. Her mind faded away to the sound of someone crying 'Rei, Rei, hold on Rei.'

A few hours later…

"Rei are you alright!?" Shinji said frantically while running into the hospital room.

Rei slowly turned her head to Shinji and saw the worry on his face. She didn't understand why he was always so worried about her, she wasn't dead, and her wounds would heal. But whenever she looked into his blue eyes, she felt a little bit of joy that he was so concerned for her well being. She cracked a small smile for Shinji coming to fret over her. Was it bad that she would be happy for Shinji to worry over her? Was it wrong to selfishly desire his attention?

"There are no serious abnormalities with my health at this time, all of my injuries will heal and I will be fully healed with no disabilities in a few days." Rei said with a meek tone. It was odd that she would become so timid with a situation like this. She didn't understand a lot of human emotions and experiences, but that never caused her to shy away from anything.

"That's good to hear, has Mom come to visit?"

"Yes, she was here earlier, but she already left to finish up work she needed to complete."

The conversation between Dr. Ikari and Rei had been a short one. Even though they had lived together for so long, their common bond was Shinji. It was because him that they talked to each other at all, it was because of him that they considered each other family. Without Shinji they had very little to talk with each other. But none the less, Yui Ikari had come to Rei's room and shown genuine concern for her niece.

"That's expected. I brought you something to eat." Shinji pulled 2 bento lunches and a thermos of green tea from his bag. He opened up one of the bento boxes and handed it to Rei with a pair of chop sticks.

Rei looked down at the bento and saw the care Shinji had put into making this lunch for her. She almost didn't want to eat it so that she could preserve the love she felt from Shinji through the bento. She brushed the idea off as foolish and decided that eating the bento would better show her appreciation to Shinji for his consideration. Her cousin poured her a cup of tea and handed it to her as she was eating the bento.

"Thank you Ikari-kun," Rei said, "although I do appreciate the gesture, it was unnecessary. The hospital's food is quite sufficient."

Shinji shrugged at Rei's comment. "I know, but my cooking is better than the hospital's. I hate having to eat the crap they feed us whenever we're injured during training. You would think that the billions of yen they received to build this base and the Evas, they would be able to set aside more money for some decent food. And what have I told you about calling me Ikari? I'm your cousin Rei, we don't have to be so formal with each other."

Rei blushed at Shinji scolding her for something that she had told countless times. "I'm sorry… Ik… Shinji-kun, old habits are hard to break…"

"That's ok, we'll work on it. So what happened during the activation test? Have they told you why Unit-00 went berserk?"

"I don't know, but I feel like Unit-00 rejected me, and that is why it went berserk. How is it that you and Unit-01 are compatible?"

"I don't know if I would really call it compatible… I would say that we're more incompatible," Shinji said sounding unsure of himself.

"That doesn't make sense, how is it that you are able to synch?"

"Well… I have to show it that I'm stronger than him… and then he decides to start listening to me. Sometimes he's really stubborn and doesn't want to listen, then I have push even harder…"

"Him? Do you mean Unit-01?"

"Yeah, atleast I think he's a guy… I can't imagine a giant mecha being a girl…" Shinji said as he was scratching his head.

Rei thought it odd that Shinji would refer to Unit-01 as if it were a person, a gender specific person. Perhaps that was what Rei's problem was, she didn't acknowledge that Unit-00 was its own entity. So would that mean she should enter the cockpit and try to treat Unit-00 as a person? She wasn't any good at approaching normal people and making friends, how was she going to 'be friends' with a giant robot?

"Are you scared to get back into Unit-00?" Shinji asked.

"Why should I be?" Rei replied.

"Because you could've have died in Unit-00! I wouldn't want to get back into Unit-01 if had gone berserk on me."

"But this is important for Dr. Ikari."

"Mom will understand if you didn't want to get back in Unit-00."

She thought about Shinji had just said. It was true that she could possibly request that she not have to get into Unit-00 ever again and Dr. Ikari would understand. But is that what she really wanted? She didn't fear Eva like Shinji did, but she didn't feel love for it either. Eva was a bond to Shinji, it was another way for her to be part of his world, spend time with him, relate to him, and to protect him if the need ever arose.

"It will be fine. There won't be a problem with me getting into Unit-00, there are safety measures in place to prevent any serious harm to my person."

Shinji could only nod at her bold statement. "You're a lot braver then I am Rei," Shinji said as he was getting up. "I'm going to head home and get dinner ready for Mom and Misato. Take care Rei, I'll be back tomorrow to check up on you."

Rei blushed at his comment. "You are the one who should be commended Shinji… for being able to get Unit-01 to activate and not go berserk. You always do better on all the other tests, even when I do get Unit-00 to activate properly, I won't compare to your skills with Eva," She whispered to herself as Shinji left the room.

^_^_^_^_^

Present day

Rei opened her eyes and she was staring at a bland white ceiling. She was feeling groggy from the drugs that they were pumping into her veins to reduce the pain. She carefully got up and looked around the room, moving too quickly or suddenly either caused her pain or made her nauseous. The room was empty and barren of any color or style. She did however take note of one Ikari Shinji sleeping in a chair with his head resting on her bed. She reached up and stroked his head as he slept, when he woke he would be happy to see that she was alive and well, then it would be followed by anger, sadness and resentment that she had been reckless for going out into battle against the angel. He was the only person she could understand, the _only_ person she cared to understand.

Shinji lacked resolve, he was timid, naive, and a coward. However, he was kind, gentle, understanding, and he deeply cared for everyone. It didn't matter who they were, if they needed help Shinji was willing to offer it. Whenever he was confronted, his first instinct was to run away, but he would force himself to stand there and face what threatened him. He was never willing to step up, but when it was for the sake of someone he cared for, he was willing to face the world. From the bottom of her heart she loved him, and it always made her sad that they shared the same blood.

^_^_^_^_^

A/N: Well I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. This one took me a while to write because I had a hard time with Rei's dialogue and mannerisms. I wanted to go into a little bit of depth what Rei's and Shinji's life has been like. I hope that everyone who is a Rei fan, doesn't get too offended by how I portrayed her. Please let me know what you guys think, and I'll get the next chapter to you next week.


	8. Burden

Chapter 8

This was Shinji's first day back at school since he had broke down and gone missing for a couple days. He had spent a lot of time at the hospital watching over Rei, but now that she was awake and would be released tomorrow, Shinji felt that he needed to return to school so that he could catch up on his school work. The somber mood that had enshrouded the school no longer filled the air. It had returned to the normal atmosphere that he was used to. Shinji was worried how his friends might act toward him when he saw them though.

Shinji walked into the classroom with his headphones on. He was feeling anxious and nervous at the same time, the music helped him calm his nerves. He saw Touji sitting alone, not talking to anyone. Hikari was chatting with a group of girls. Shinji quietly walked into the classroom and went straight to his seat and tried to remain inconspicuous, he didn't know what he wanted to say to anyone about what had happened last time he was at school. Shinji almost made it to his desk, to what he believed to be his solace. But he heard a voice call his name over the music he was playing.

"Shinji! Where have you been?" The class rep said and walked up to his desk.

Shinji turned around and saw his old friend, she had a sad and angry look on her face. She had always been one to be considerate of Shinji. Shinji had known Hikari since primary school, just as long as he had known Touji and Kensuke. In middle school she had told him that she had a crush on Touji. He wondered if that were still true, because he stopped hearing anything about it after they came to high school. Shinji wanted to say something to her, but before he could get a word from his mouth, she already started to berate him.

"Do you know how many days of school you've missed? You have a mountain of assignments that you have to make up or you're probably going to have to repeat this year! We've been in the same class for the last 12 years and its going to be your fault if we're not in the same class next year!" Hikari scolded him as she slowly started breaking down in tears. She eventually rested her face against his chest and started to pound it with her fist.

Shinji was speechless, he had never seen Hikari like this before. She had always shown herself to be such a strong and responsible girl. "I'm sorry Hikari… I know what I did was stupid… and now because of that Rei is hurt now."

Hikari gasped, "What happened to Rei-chan?"

Shinji explained to Hikari how they were both pilots of the Evangelions. And how since Shinji had run away, Nerv was forced to send out Rei instead of himself.

"No matter what I do, whether I pilot or if I don't, people get hurt. I'm just so worthless," Shinji whispered to himself. He still said it loud enough for Hikari to hear though.

"That isn't true Shinji-kun. You protected the city against the first monster that came to attack the city. You were scared, anyone else would've been. If you didn't act the way you did, I would be worried about what kind of a psycho you were," Hikari said cracking a half smile at Shinji.

Shinji chuckled at Hikari's attempt at a joke. "You're right… I suppose it is a normal reaction to have, but that doesn't mean that I'm not responsible. Kensuke is dead because I didn't fight the Angel like a heartless monster and Rei got hurt and is in the hospital because I hesitated about piloting Eva. And it seems like Touji still doesn't want to talk to me."

Hikari had a sad look on her face from what Shinji said. She placed her hand on his and said, "You should talk to him. You know how stupid and stubborn he can be at times. He'll be mad at you when you try to talk to him, but if you don't, he'll just stay mad at you for the rest of his life." After saying that they realized class was about to start, Hikari returned to her seat and lead everyone in the morning greeting of their homeroom teacher.

At lunch was the first opportunity that Shinji got to approach Touji and try and talk to him.

"Touji, we need to talk," Shinji said.

"Yeah…" Touji replied.

As a silent agreement they both decided that the class room wasn't the place to talk about this and they both left the class and went somewhere that they could talk alone. Hikari saw them leave the class together and decided that she would tail them to make sure that their talk went smoothly. They ended up walking behind the gym. Upon arriving at their destination, neither one said anything. Shinji knew that he should be the one to start the conversation, he had spent all morning thinking about what he should say to Touji, but now his head was completely empty. He couldn't think of anything, so he just said the first thing that came to mind.

"I…I'm…sorry about what happened to Kensuke, that was the last thing I wanted to happen," Shinji said.

"What's the point of telling me that? Shouldn't you be saying that to Kensuke's parents or something?" Touji replied sounding irked.

"I've already seen them, they tried to tell me that it wasn't my fault," Shinji said, "I know it wasn't my fault, but…"

"Are you an idiot or something Shinji?" Touji said as his voice began to rise, "Of course it's not your fault! Is that why you wanted to talk to me?"

"No! This isn't the reason I wanted to talk to you!" Shinji screamed at him, "But you're still angry! I thought it was about Kensuke, but if it's not that then I don't know!"

Touji suddenly had an epiphany to Shinji's words. He was angry, he was angry that Kensuke was dead. One of his oldest friends he had since he had lived in Tokyo-3 as a kid. Kensuke and Touji were friends before they had gone to primary school and met Shinji. He wasn't angry at Shinji for killing him, he wasn't that stupid. He was angry at Shinji for not being able to protect Kensuke. Suddenly Touji threw a right straight at Shinji that hit him in the face. Shinji was expecting something like this from the very beginning and took the hit. The blow sent Shinji off his feet and he landed on his back.

Shinji was slightly dazed by the punch, and he expected this to be the end of their friendship. When he opened his eyes, he saw Touji standing above him with his hand extended to help him up. Shinji was confused by Touji's gesture, he looked up at him and he saw in his face that he wasn't angry anymore, he was calm. Shinji took Touji's hand and quickly got back on his feet. Their hands held each other's tightly in a firm hand shake as if it were an agreement.

"That was for Kensuke, next time you better do everything that you can to protect this city. Our future, hope and lives are in your hands Shinji. I trust that you will keep us safe." Touji said.

Shinji smiled back at him while gripping his friends hand even tighter.

Hikari, who was standing around the corner and out of sight, only shook her head at how the boys were able to resolve their dispute. She began to walk away as she muttered to herself, "Boy's… I will never understand them. At least the two of them made up."

Shinji suddenly got a call on his cellphone.

"Hello? Misato-san? Yes. You're coming to pick me up? OK. Yes, I understand." Shinji said as he got off the phone. "That was Misato-san, there's an Angel on the way. Touji, you need to let the teachers know that the alarm is going to go off soon and they need to get the students to a shelter."

^_^_^_^_^

Shinji was inside of Unit-01's entry plug and ready to launch just as the Angel reached the city's perimeter. Shinji was able to witness the Angel enter the city on a small display in the cockpit. The Angel resembled a giant flying bird. It had narrow red wings that didn't extend very far out for the size of the Angel. An odd cone shaped head, and from what Shinji could tell the Angel's beak was the tip half of the cone. The angel's body was black, narrow, long, and cylindrical. In what would be the Angel's chest, was a ruby red sphere, the Angel's core. The body of the Angel was considerably longer then it's head, but the head was much fatter then the body. The Angel opened its mouth and released a menacing squawk that began to shatter windows and cut off the video feed to Shinji's cockpit.

"Shinji seeing from that one attack it seems to use sonic vibrations to attack, I want you to turn off your audio perception so that the sonic waves won't enter the cockpit. Remember though, you will still be able to feel the vibrations." Misato told him over his com.

"Understood."

"And since the Angel is a flying type, we have the catapult rigged so that the breaks won't kick in and bumpers won't stop you when you reach the surface. You aren't going to be connected with power, so once you land, you need to connect yourself as soon as possible."

"Yes."

"Good luck out there Shinji. Come back to us alive."

"I won't let you down." Shinji said confidently. Misato didn't say anything over the com for a few moments. She had never heard Shinji so sure of himself. She could only hope that her faith wasn't misplaced.

"Prepare Eva for launch! 5…4…3…2…1…LAUNCH!"

Shinji flew through the catapult faster than he had ever had. He could feel the g-forces pushing down on him, and he gritted his teeth and with sheer determination kept himself conscious through the intense pressure his body was forced to endure. Fortunately for Shinji, the trip was brief. He was suddenly several thousand feet in the air, looking down on Tokyo-3, surrounded by blue skies and could see an endless red ocean.

Unit-01 reached the peak of its flight and experienced zero gravity for a few moments, after that gravity began to pull the giant purple mech back down to the surface. Shinji could see the Angel flying up toward him, fortunately Unit-01 was already armed with a pallet rifle. Shinji unloaded several controlled volleys at the Angel, the Angel opened its beak and screamed a sonic blast. The vibrations in the air caused the rounds to veer off course and miss their intended target. Unit-01 felt the vibrations from the attack, and Shinji was unaffected by the attack due to the sound proof cockpit.

Unit-01 expanded his AT field as the Bird Angel approached, when the two AT field collided, Unit-01 bounced off the Angel's front tip and was facing the top side of the Angel. Shinji manipulated his AT field and used it to grab onto the Angel's AT field. Angel suddenly went into a barrel roll and started to dive. Shinji focused on his AT field so that he wouldn't be thrown off from the spin. The Angel's spin started to wobble and lose control of its flight since there was a displacement of weight that threw the spin off. Once Shinji got his bearing, he pulled out Unit-01's prog knife and used it to cut a hole into the Angel's AT field. Unit-01 dropped past the AT field protecting the angel and onto the main body. Once he fell through there was nothing for Unit-01 to grab on to, the Angel's body was completely smooth. Unit-01 drove his prog knife into the Angel's body so that he would have something to hold on to.

The Angel howled in pain, causing windows to break, and steel to bend under the sonic pressure. Shinji could feel the force of the sonic vibration through the Eva's armor plating, causing him to scream out in pain. Shinji started to lose his grip on the prog knife until he was unable to hold on anymore and dropped towards the city. Shinji cursed to himself as he plummeted to the ground below. He was able to turn his Eva around so that he was at least falling feet first. Once he got in range of the armed defense towers, he reached out and dug his hand into the building to slow Unit-01 down. Once his fingers dug into the steel plating, this caused him to slow down a little and his feet began sliding down the side of the tower. Once he slowed down to a manageable speed, he flung himself from the wall and landed on an opposing tower. He timed his jumps between the two towers to make his way to the top.

Once he reached the top of the towers, his battery pack had under a minute of power. Fortunately Misato had already ordered the preparation of an umbilical cable and a heavy gatling gun at the top of the tower. He quickly plugged himself in and grabbed the gatling gun. Shinji could see that the Angel had flown around to make a clean pass at Unit-01. Unit-01 steadied itself, locked on, and prepared for the Angel to reach firing range. The targeting system blinked notifying Shinji that the Angel within range of the gatling gun. Shinji pulled the trigger and Unit-01 commenced to fire car sized rounds and drop semi trailer sized shells.

The bullets hit their target, but the Angel continued to fly towards Unit-01's direction with no sign of slowing down. Suddenly the Angel began to spin, not very fast at first, but once it drew its wings in close to its body, the spin began to accelerate until the Angel looked like a giant drill flying towards him. Unit-01's barrage of artillery bounced off the Angel's unstoppable drill movement. Shinji dropped his weapon as soon as he realized it was useless and jumped off the side of the tower and disconnected the umbilical cable. The battery for Unit-01 was completely charged. Shinji looked behind him to see what had become of the tower. The Angel had shaved off the top portion of the tower. The damage to the tower was a lot bigger than the size of the Angel. Comparing the size of the Angel while it was spinning and the size of the crater in the tower, it didn't add up.

Shinji grabbed the tower in the same fashion as before to slow down his fall. Once he reached the bottom, he ran for a weapon depot and drew a giant Eva sized spear. Shinji looked around and saw the Angel coming in for another pass. He prepared his stance to wait for a chance to strike at the Angel. The Angel approached in the same manor and began its slow spin that lead into the drill movement. Shinji raised his AT field and jumped to the side, clearly out of the line of path of the Angel's attack, and he was ready to strike. However, Unit-01 felt a great force of wind strike him. If not for his AT field, the wind alone would have torn apart Unit-01. Unit-01 was launched from the force of the wind funnel that surrounded the Angel.

Shinji screamed as he flew through Tokyo-03. He was eventually stopped by a tower he collided with that ended up collapsing on Unit-01 in the process. Quickly made his way out of the rubble with spear in hand, Unit-01 took another defensive position.

"Misato-san, what do I do?" Shinji asked desperately, "I don't know how I'm supposed to kill this thing."

"Don't worry Shinji-kun. Help is on the way. The German's have just arrived with back up," Misato told him reassuringly.

"Germans? Back up? What are you talking about?"

"Just look up."

Shinji noticed that the Angel did not come around to make another pass at Unit-01. He saw it fly upwards to face a new aerial threat. High in the sky was an air transport ship escorted by a jamming plane and several joint strike fighters. The planes scattered to attack the Angel and defend their cargo. The German pilots did their best, but were helplessly annihilated by the Angel. The strike fighter's little engagement gave the transport ship enough time to unload its valuable cargo. The transport plane released its locks and a red giant was unleashed upon Tokyo-3 and the monstrous Angel. And he heard a voice over his com.

"Evangelion Unit-02. Asuka Langley Sorhyu here to save your ass Third Child," A girl's voice said over the com.

^_^_^_^_^

A/N: And now I finally have Shinji and Asuka together. This is where the story truly begins, I get to shed light on all the great ideas that I've been thinking about for the last few weeks. Hope you guys enjoyed what I've written so far, and will enjoy everything to come. I hope you guys enjoyed the scenario between Shinji and Touji, if you're a guy then you probably understand why they were able to come to terms so easily. I originally had another scene in its place, but I decided to go with this one so that I could atleast build up the relationship between Touji and Shinji since I've been neglecting the school life for a bit. I would appreciate it if you guys would give me some feed back and let me know what you guys think of the chapter. Thanks later.


	9. The Red Demon

Chapter 9

Unit-02 was released from the air transport, as soon as the cargo was dispatched, the transport and jamming aircraft left the battle zone in a hurry. Free fall falling towards the Angel, Asuka order Unit-02 to pull out her spike cannon. A weapon designed to fire thin, dense, heavy weighted spikes at high speeds using a magnetic catapult. Unit-02 began to unload the spikes loaded in her cannon. The Angel let loose a loud squawk, the spikes fired by the rail canon were un-phased by the sonic vibrations, they flew straight and true. They still ran into the Angel's AT field, but as each spike collided against the AT field, a layer of the AT field shattered. This forced the Angel to veer off course and begin evading the hail of spikes.

The Angel flew around to get directly beneath the falling Eva. Unit-02 was able to turn itself around to be facing the Angel flying towards it. By the time Asuka was able to lock onto the Angel and fire, the Angel was already drilling up towards the red giant. The Angel's spinning body was able to deflect the incoming spikes. Suddenly a pair of short wings sprung from the back of Unit-02, the wing span of the wings didn't even reach past the Eva's elbow. Unit-02 was then able to dodge the Angel's drill attack and avoid the funnel of air that surrounded it, get behind it and begin unloading a barrage of spikes at the Angel's tail. The Angel's tail end wasn't as impervious as the Angel's head while it was spinning. The Angel immediately stopped spinning and began to dive and dodge the incoming assault of spikes.

Shinji watched the aerial battle take place helplessly as Unit-02 battled the flying Angel he had so much trouble with. When he saw the Angel flying down toward the city, Shinji quickly mobilized Unit-01 to intercept. Unit-02 was also starting to come within distance of the defense towers. Shinji was able to quickly predict the path that the Angel was flying. He directed Unit-01 to climb a building in the Angel's path and waited for it to pass by him. As he saw the Angel approaching, Unit-01 jumped out from his hiding spot and wrapped his arms around the Angel's neck and stabbed the Angel's core with his prog knife. The Angel looked down on Unit-01 and began pecking the Eva's cranial armor with its beak. Shinji tried to hold on for as long as he could, but he had to let go from the pain he was experiencing from his head getting hammered. As he was falling, a rain of spikes hailed on the Angel and some embedded themselves into the Angel's back. Unit-02 came falling from the sky and used its heel to drive a spike that was embedded in the center of the Angel's back. Unit-02's heel carried so much force that it drove the nail through the Angel's entire body as well as the core. The core cracked and then shattered into a waterfall of blood.

Unit-01 hit the ground on its back, Shinji was in terrible pain. Unit-02 did a somersault and landed gracefully in a crouching position. Unit-02 was planted in place for about 3 seconds then fell over from its battery having run out. Unit-01 was able to get up and headed over to help Unit-02 to a not as embarrassing position. When he was about to bend over to pick up the red Eva, he heard a loud voice screaming at him.

"Don't you dare touch my Unit-02 you dirty fucking pervert!" the pilot of Unit-02 screamed at him through his com. He saw through his screen that the pilot of Unit-02 had already exited her Eva and was using the emergency communication line that could be used outside of the Eva. She was a young girl about his age, fiery red hair, bright blue eyes, and a magnificently well proportioned and endowed body. She was the prettiest girl Shinji had ever met.

"P…P…P…Pervert? How am I a pervert for trying to help your Eva out?" Shinji stammered.

"Because you're probably jealous and you were going to do something awful to my Unit-02 like grope it or something. It's nothing like your shitty little test-type or the proto-type. This is the world's first _TRUE_ Evangelion, the Production type!" the red hair hollered over the com and grandly waved at her Eva.

"That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard! It's a giant robot! Why the hell would I want to grope a giant robot?!"

"Oh so you would rather grope a woman then?" She said with a worried and disgusted face. Then she seemed to realize something, covered her breasts and stepped back. "You're going to grope me aren't you? Stay away from me you damn pervert! I'll scream rape!" she cried.

"What…" Shinji had no other response for the bizarre red head in front of him. He didn't know what to make of this predicament.

"Mien Gotte, the nerve of the some people. I fly 9 hours to Japan all the way from Germany, and as soon as I get here I have to save your sorry ass from that wimpy Angel you couldn't handle. And this is the thanks I get, you trying to molest me and my Unit-02."

"What?! I had the situation under control. I never needed your help in the first place, I would've been able to destroy that Angel on my own," Shinji cried out, hoping that she wouldn't see through his bluff. Shinji began to exit the plug being that the obnoxious red head didn't apparently want his help. She seemed to glare at him as he exited the plug and approach her.

"So, you're supposed to be the pilot that everyone clamoring over just because you have a higher synch ratio score then me. I was expecting an actual rival that would be able to challenge my skills, not some kid who wasn't even able to handle a second rate Angel."

"Some kid?! You're the same age as I am. This was your first encounter with an Angel, so tell me how you're such a veteran? And don't go off bragging about how much of a better pilot you are then I am just because you had better gear while we were fighting the Angel. That spike gun and that glider pack gave you a real edge on that Angel. If you didn't have either one of those things, you wouldn't have lasted nearly half as long as I did."

The red head suddenly clenched her fists at Shinji's statement. She looked offended by what Shinji had said and looked like she had more to say when the recovery team arrived with their heavy equipment to retrieve the two Evangelions. Rei and Misato exited one of the trucks and walked in the children's direction.

"I see you guys have already met and are getting along splendidly," Misato said as she approached the two teenagers. "Shinji you have the honor of meeting Asuka Langley Sorhyu, the pride of the European Air Force."

"Misato-san! It's been a long time," Asuka said in excitement while running to give Misato a hug.

"Hi Asuka, my you've gotten big, and you've filled out well. I bet you lead all the boys around by the nose don't you? . Asuka, this is Shinji Ikari, the famous third child and pilot of Unit-01. And this is Shinji's cousin Rei Ayanami, the first child and pilot of Unit-00. I hope that three of you can get along and work together."

"I don't know, seeing the third child's poor performance today makes worry that I'm going to have to defeat all the Angels by myself," Asuka said.

"Pppfffttt… yeah, we'll see how much better you are then I am when we face off against the Angel and I have all the same gear you're using," Shinji said trying to defend his pride. "Why don't we have those weapons that the Germans apparently have?"

"Nerv Germany receives all the funding for Eva weapon development, and we've been sending them the data from the first two fights with the Angels. The rail gun that Unit-02 was using is only a prototype as well as the glider pack on its back. They obviously worked extremely well, so we'll have them in production soon." Misato reassured him. At this point the two pilots no longer cared about anything that Misato had to say. Shinji stood tall, glaring at Asuka. The rest of the world faded around him and he could only see her. Asuka mirrored his own actions and stood strong against his piercing stare. Misato kept talking to the two pilots, but neither one registered what she had to say.

^_^_^_^_^

"The development of the Jet Alone project has lost all of their funding due to a reactor meltdown during one of their tests," a scruffily handsome man said to the commander of Nerv and director of Project-E.

"Excellent, then we don't have to worry about the UN foolishly squandering our funding to a project that would have no hope of fighting the Angels," Yui Ikari said.

"The scenario is playing out exactly as you planned doctor. Now, Seele's most valued treasure, one of the Forbidden Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge," the man said as he handed over a case to the Doctor Ikari.

"Kaji Ryoji-san, you're skills really are the best. I can't believe that you were actually able to get one of these from Seele without them realizing. Makes me think that this is possibly too good to be true," Fuyutski said as he carefully eyed the man in front of him.

"Well there is plenty of time for Kaji to prove his loyalty to us and show that our faith is well placed," Yui said as she eagerly opened the case in front of her. Inside the case was a glass canister with a small glowing ball inside of it. Yui could only stare in amazement at what was in front of her.

"Seele won't notice this piece of fruit missing. I was able to get one of the doctors to create a replica in its place. The replica was grown at an accelerated rate and doesn't contain the same power as the originals, but by then it will already be too late," Kaji said insuring the Dr. Ikari and the Commander.

"Thank you for your hard work Ryoji-san, we will call you if we have anything that we need from you. You are dismissed, Ryoji-san. NSI will inform you of your post," Commander Fuyutski ordered.

Kaji gave a quick bow and made his way out of the Commander's office. Fuyutski carefully watched him as he left. Once he was gone, Fuyutski quickly turned to Yui with a concerned look on his face.

"I don't trust him, we need to be sure to keep an eye on him," Fuyutski said.

"Yes you're right, but he is an extremely talented and resourceful man. He will be useful in the months to come. We'll keep him close so that we can keep an eye on him. And when he does step out o f line, we'll kill him," Yui stated while starring at the shining fruit that sat in front of her.

^_^_^_^_^

Ritsuoko was analyzing the combat data from the battle that had taken place earlier today. It was late, Maya and her other assistants had already left to work to go home. Ritsuoko was one of the few that were still at work. Ritsuoko saw that Asuka's and Unit-02's synch ratio was at a lovely 77.3%, for her first battle that was impressive. Shinji's synch ratio had risen since the last time she had performed a test. It was now sitting at an 86.8%, what could possibly have happened for his score to jump so much in two weeks time? She scrolled through the data and noticed something very interesting. Shinji's synch ratio had made the jump shortly after Asuka joined the battle. Asuka's increased marginally, but the jump in Shinji's score caught her attention. What could she possibly do to continue stimulating his score?

Suddenly there were a pair of arms that wrapped themselves around Ritsuoko's neck. She was little surprised at first until she detected the scent of cigarettes and a familiar cologne from her past. She reached up and placed her hands on the new comer's arms.

"My it's been a long time Kaji," Ritsuoko said.

"You're still as beautiful as when we were in college and there's something sexy about the smell of laboratory antibiotics on you, but if you keep working so hard, you're going to get wrinkles before you're 35," Kaji said.

"Just finishing up a little work that I was curious about."

"Oh yeah and what's that?" Kaji said while reading more into the battle analysis that Ritsuoko was examining. "Looks like Shinji's pride made him step up his game."

Ritsuoko didn't consider that was what made Shinji's jump in his score. There was no scientific validity to the statement. But there was a lot about Eva's that involved the human brain, so it was clearly a possibility.

"How is it that Shinji's pride would have anything to do with his synch ratio?" Ritsuoko asked.

"Well Shinji-kun is a man. His alpha-male instincts probably felt threatened when Asuka showed up to provide him competition as the dominant pilot," Kaji said.

"Interesting… That is possible. Looking at Asuka's file, she is extremely competitive as it is and if Shinji shows sign of improvement, then we can use this to drive both of their scores up higher."

"If we do that though, it could cause possible dissension between the pilots and they won't coordinate with each other against the Angels."

Ritsuoko looked up and saw an angry Misato glaring at them through the window into her office. Ritsuoko smirked at how she and Kaji possibly looked from Misato's point of view.

"There's someone else might carry some dissent towards their co-workers," Ritsuoko said hinting towards Misato standing at the window.

"Go ahead and let her," Kaji said as he unwrapped his arms from Ritsuoko and smiled at Misato. Misato walked into the office, carrying with her an irritated mood that could be clearly seen.

"I see that you've finally returned to Japan, an idiot like you couldn't possibly be here for business, so it must be for pleasure," Misato's words were sharp and acidic.

"Well I like to think that my work is usually very enjoyable and leads to pleasure," Kaji said as he winked to Ritsuoko. This worked exactly as Kaji intended, it infuriated Misato. Her face turned a bright red that matched the jacket that she was wearing. Kaji thought that he could see heat being emitted from her body like heat emitted from sand in a desert.

"What the hell are you doing in here with Rits anyway?" Misato growled at Kaji barely able to hold in her frustration of Kaji being around.

"Well Rits-chan was looking at something very interesting from today's battle. It involves Shinji and Asuka," Kaji said. Misato walked over to Ritsuoko and inspected the data she was looking at.

"Shinji's score jumped shortly after Asuka joined the battle?" Misato asked.

"Yes, it could have something to do with Shinji's pride stepping in and forcing him to unconsciously try harder," Kaji explained.

"How typical of a male. And I had thought that Shinji wasn't like that. It must be because Rei had gotten hurt from the Angel before," Misato speculated.

"If this is all true, then we can use the children to motivate each other to drive their scores to higher levels, but if we do that then we're worried that Shinji and Asuka would focus too much on competing with each other rather than cooperating," Ritsuoko explained.

"Theres a way we can get around that," Kaji said, "We can get them to drive their scores up higher and also force them to learn to cooperate with each other."

^_^_^_^_^

The next day Shinji was extremely irritated about the events that had passed the day before. The nerve of that bitch! Who did she think she was? Just because Germany had geared her with equipment that best suited the battle against the flying angel, she believed that she was the superior pilot for defeating the Angel. Shinji couldn't stop thinking about how much that bitch had annoyed him the other day and was wondering how he would have to deal with her while piloting Eva. He was glad that he only had to deal with her at Nerv.

Shinji had come to visit Misato, he liked to visit her just to see that she was taking care of herself. Misato was an old friend of the family, and she had always looked out for Shinji like a big sister. Shinji casually opened the door to Misato's apartment and was shocked to see that it was already clean. Could it be possible that Misato had actually cleaned up the apartment herself? Shinji was completely dumb founded by his discovery. Shinji began to thoroughly search the apartment, there was no instant food packages lying around the apartment, no empty beer cans, no dirty dishes piled in the sink. Shinji couldn't believe what he was seeing, but he noticed that Misato's room was still pretty messy. Shinji didn't know what to make of it.

Shinji was standing in the living room when he got that feeling that someone was creeping up on him. As he began to turn around, he felt sharp pain on his head and the pain dissipated as he blacked out. When he came to, he couldn't remember where he was. His head was really hurting, his head was resting on an ice pack and a wet towel sat on his forehead. He looked up and saw an angelically beautiful face with crystal blue eyes hovering above him. He was captivated by her eyes, her face, her scent from being so close to him. Then it dawned on him on who it was that he was ogling at. The red bitch!

"Thank fucking God you're awake. I thought I had put you into a coma," Asuka said with a sigh of relief.

"mmmmhhhhh…..ooooohhh…." Shinji groaned while struggling to get sit up while holding the back of his head where he had gotten smacked. "What the hell are YOU doing here? And what did you knock me out for?"

"Well I do LIVE here now, and how did you find out where I lived anyways? And why wouldn't I knock you out? You break into my home, and start snooping around without permission, you looked like you were trying to steal something," Asuka said as she shot Shinji with a death glare.

"WHAT?! I wasn't trying to steal anything! I was here to visit Misato-san, I'm usually the one who helps her clean up the apartment occasionally. So are you living here with her because you guys know each other from Germany?" Shinji asked in a confused tone and a befuddled look on his face.

"Yeah I suppose. It's more like Misato insisted that I live with her instead of me living on my own. Though I would rather live by myself after seeing how Misato lives. I spent most of the day cleaning up this damn apartment. "

"Hahaha… Yeah she may seem organized and in control at work, but when she's at home, she's a drunkard that doesn't give a shit," Shinji said, "Makes you feel confident that a crazy alcoholic is in charge of operations for saving the world."

"Hahaha… Yeah you're right. Good thing that I'm here or the world would be fucked!" Asuka said as she puffed up her chest.

"Well it's good to hear that the pilots who are to protect the world are so confident," Misato said in a sarcastic tone as she walked into the living room. Both pilots' hearts stopped mid beat, their heads creaked towards the direction of their judge and their impending sentence for their crimes.

Misato had a beer in hand and an irritated look on her face "The Japanese believe in mutual respect, now it's not very respectful for the pilots to be speaking about their superior officer in that manner. It's a good thing that both of you are getting along right now, because both of you are going to be spending a lot of time with each other."

"Why the hell am I going to be spending time with this Baka?" Asuka hissed at Misato.

"Asuka, you won't be attending school until after summer vacation, no point in spending a week at school just to go on vacation. Once summer vacation starts for Shinji, both of you will attend a combat coordination exercise. Both of you will live, eat, breathe and train at Nerv in the Geo Front," Misato explained.

"Why isn't Rei going to attend the training with us? Wouldn't it be good for all three of us to be able to coordinate?" Shinji asked.

"You're right. But because Rei's synch ratio isn't as high either of you two, she wouldn't be able to keep up with your movements in an Eva. She is going to have her own training menu while you two are working on coordinating with one another," Misato said.

"I don't need to be able to coordinate with this baka. I can defeat all the Angels on my own. I'm the one who killed the last one!" Asuka boasted.

"Both of you acted independently during the fight, the only reason that you were able to land a killing blow Asuka is because Shinji had distracted it while you set up for your attack. You would never have never gotten the chance to strike were it not for Shinji. We were lucky that your independent actions didn't get in each other's way and you were able to defeat the Angel. Next time we might not be so lucky."

^_^_^_^_^

Shinji sighed as dropped off his stuff at Nerv's barracks. This was his first summer as a high school student. He was supposed to go on trips to the beach with his friends, have fun while enjoying the summer of his youth, maybe meet a girl and have a summer romance. But no, instead he would spend his summer with this red demon training to fight against Angels. Piloting Eva was truly a pain in the ass. He wouldn't have had any problems training with Rei or anyone else, but Asuka was just such an arrogant stuck up bitch, he didn't know if this was even going to work. His room was a square empty room. There were two closets, one for himself and for another person if he had a roommate. There was a door that led to a single bathroom with a sink inside and a shower. There were no beds in the room, but inside each of the closets was a futon and some blankets. Nerv provided them with only the most basic needs.

Suddenly the door opened and he saw Asuka standing there with her stuff. She had a shocked and confused look on her face.

"What the hell are you doing in my room?" Asuka demanded, "This is the room that they assigned to me when I checked in."

"Well you must be mistaken because this is the room that they assigned me," Shinji replied not giving a shit about her concerns.

Asuka dropped her stuff and looked at the number on her key and the number printed outside on the door. "No baka! See my key says room 154, and that's the room number on the door. So get the fuck out of my room!"

"My key says 154 too! They must have accidentally assigned you to my room, so go get it changed!"

"I'm a girl, you should give up your room for me and get it changed yourself!" Asuka hollered.

"You have got to be kidding me! FINE! I'll just go get this changed so that I don't have to deal with you," Shinji said as he stormed out of the room. Asuka had a smirk of satisfaction on her face to get Shinji to yield to her whims. Shinji just shook his head at her immaturity as he left. Before he could get out the door, Misato and two men that Shinji didn't know were standing at the door.

"There isn't any mistake, both of you will be living here together," Misato said as she entered the room with the other two men.

"WHAT?! You can't be serious?" Both pilots said in unison. They glared at each other when they realized that had said the exact same thing.

"I'm very serious, both of you will learn to deal with each other and work as a team. This is your instructor," Misato stepped aside for the young man who stood behind her.

"I'm Sgt Sagara Souske and for the next month, both of you are nothing more than maggots!"

^_^_^_^_^

A/N: I know there are some grammatical errors in this chapter. When I proof read it, there was something wrong with it saving and fanfiction didn't save any of the corrections I made. I was too lazy to re-read through it all and find the changes again.

I didn't intend for this chapter to be so long either, I just kept thinking of stuff that I thought was necessary before I started the next chapter. I hope you guys are Full Metal Panic fans, I was thrilled with myself for having Souske as a cameo for their instructor. Please R&R and I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.


	10. Lean on Me

Chapter 10

Standing before him were his new trainees. The boy looked weak. He was appalled that the future of the world could depend so much on this kid. He didn't look like he was strong enough to do what was needed to be done, an idealist who probably thought that he could save everyone and not have to sacrifice anything. The girl looked like she was strong, but she also looked arrogant. Probably so confident in her own abilities that she would easily dismiss the enemy and underestimate it. He sighed and mentally prepared himself for the long month.

"Sergeant, I'm leaving these two in your care," Misato said, "I'll see you two in 30 days." Misato left the room with the scruffy looking man.

"I am Sergeant Sagara Souske of Mithril," Souske introduced, "I'm here to whip your sorry maggot asses into combat ready soldiers!"

"We've already killed…" Asuka started to say but was cut off by their new drill instructor.

"I don't give a fuck what you two little bitches have already killed! Those were probably the weakest opponents that the enemy probably has to offer. That's why you were able to defeat them!" Souske screamed at Asuka while spraying saliva in her face. She tensed up at him unexpectedly cutting her off mid sentence. She looked absolutely shocked that he had practically spit all over her face. Her face suddenly contorted in anger and she clenched her fists.

"HOW DARE YOU SPRAY ME WITH YOUR SALIVA YOU STUPID JAR HEAD! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" Asuka screamed back at the top of her lungs. Shinji was rather surprised that he let her finish this sentence.

"So you have an attitude problem. I don't care who you think you are. You are low life piece of shit that was abandoned by her mother. It's too bad that your mother didn't take you with her, and then I might actually have someone who was worth working with," Souske said with a cold straight face.

Asuka threw a right uppercut straight for Souske's face, it came so quickly that Shinji didn't even notice the movement. Shinji had gone through combat training, but he was nowhere as good as Asuka. Sgt Sagara leaned back a few inches and dodged the punch. He then side-stepped Asuka and in a single fluid motion, grabbed her by her collar and swept her legs from underneath her. When Asuka's feet where no longer on the ground, the Sergeant pushed down and slammed Asuka's back onto the floor. Asuka hit the ground. Shinji could hear the air being pushed out of her lungs from the force of the slam. She started coughing and curdled in pain from being slammed onto the ground. Souske was kneeling next to her and he lowered his face close to her ear.

"If you really are as great as you boast to be, then prove to me that you are," Souske said in a disapproving tone. Sgt Sagara then looked over at Shinji, "Do you have any complaints to make?" Souske asked Shinji.

"N…No…No… I'm fine with being here," Shinji stuttered.

"Hmph… You really are a little fucking pussy," Souske said, "Atleast she was willing to fight for her pride. What pride do you have maggot? Why do you fight?"

"To protect the people of this city," Shinji said with confidence.

"Protect the people of this city? So what movie or anime did you take that off of?" Souske said in a mocking voice. "What have you been able to protect so far? The only casualties that have taken place were when you fought the Angel."

Shinji clenched his fists in rage, rage towards this man and at himself for knowing that the statement was true. Shinji wanted to strike at him, hurt him, kill him. Souske saw the look in Shinji's eyes and he smirked.

"Well at least you possess control above all else. There might be some hope for you," Souske said. "Both of you have uniforms in your closets that you will wear while training. I want both of you dressed and at the training field in 10 minutes ready to begin."

"You want us to start today? We haven't even had a chance to unpack!" Shinji exclaimed.

Souske raised an eyebrow at Shinji. "Both of you had time to unpack and get settled in, but you two wanted to spend that time arguing and fighting with each other." Souske turned around and left the room. Asuka just started to recover from being slammed on the floor.

"That bastard, I'll show him…" Asuka growled.

"Asuka let me help you," Shinji said.

"I don't need his help and I don't need yours either," she said while pathetically trying to get up.

"Shut up you stupid bitch, you can't even stand up on your own," Shinji said. Shinji picked her up and helped her to her bed. He pulled out a water bottle from his bag and handed it to her. "Here, drink this," Shinji said. Asuka took the water and drank it slowly, it helped clear her head of the dizziness. "We're gonna need to stick together to get through this month," Shinji stated.

Asuka clenched her teeth. "We'll see what this jarhead has to teach us and if I can get through it by myself then I will," Asuka said stubbornly.

Shinji sighed and headed towards his closet. "Fine then, go ahead and try to get through this solo if you think you can. This guy is just going to break us, better to accept what he has to teach us." Shinji grabbed his uniform from the closet and quickly but it on and headed for the door. "You're not alone in this Asuka, I'm here with you," Shinji said as he left the room. Asuka let her temper boil down and she put on her uniform as well and headed to training field. Shinji and Souske were standing by a hole that was about 4 meters in diameter.

Souske and Shinji were waiting for Asuka at the training field. Sgt Sagara did not look happy, "You're late!" Souske said.

"Yeah, so what?" Asuka said defiantly.

Souske smirked at Asuka. He stepped in and closed the distance between the two of them, as he stepped in he threw a straight punch at her face. Asuka was able to dodge the punch with no difficulty, but she wasn't able to anticipate Souske stepping in again in order to get behind her. She didn't have any time to react to what Souske intended to do. The Sergeant struck Asuka with his flat palm and forced Asuka to fly towards Shinji. Shinji stepped up and caught Asuka before she hit the ground. Shinji looked up straight into Sgt. Sagara's eyes.

"This is enough! There's no reason for you to attack Asuka every time she does anything that displeases you!" Shinji voiced loudly.

"Always too little too late Ikari. Do you think to add her to your list of people that you need to protect?" Sagara said in flat tone. The Sergeant walked forward and reached down to grab Asuka, Shinji quickly stood up and pushed him away. Shinji stood tall between Asuka and Souske.

Asuka reached up from her crouched position and grabbed Shinji's hand. "Baka Shinji, I don't need your sorry ass to protect me," Asuka said while trying to control her breathing. Souske could only chuckle at Asuka's defiance.

"Yes Ikari, she doesn't even need you," Souske said mockingly, "So why bother protecting her?"

"Whether people need me or not, I won't abandon anyone that I have the power to help," Shinji said proudly.

"Very well then, do what you can to help then," Souske said before he rushed Shinji.

Souske threw a quick left and right punch at Shinji. The young Eva pilot was able to duck beneath the first and block the second. Souske followed up with a right knee directed at Shinji's temple. Shinji saw the knee coming and was able to roll out of the way. He quickly got up and faced Souske, and he saw that Souske had his hand around Asuka's throat and held her over the hole.

"You failed yet again Ikari, you have proven that you are unable to do anything."

"Let her go you sick bastard!" Shinji said.

"Poor choice of words."

The Sergeant released his grip on Asuka and her limp body dropped into the hole. Shinji sprinted toward the hole and looked over the edge. He saw that Asuka was at the bottom and he saw that a net had caught her.

"Asuka! Are you alright?" Shinji yelled into the hole. She didn't respond to Shinji and she wasn't moving at all. Shinji was going to look for a rope or ladder, but he felt something push against his back and he was approaching Asuka rather quickly. When Shinji landed into the net, the net absorbed the kinetic energy from his fall. After absorbing a majority of the kinetic energy, Shinji heard a snap. He and Asuka both fell from the net and hit dirt that was 4 or 5 feet below the net. Shinji was fortunate to hit the floor softly considering the distance of the fall. It was rather unfortunate when Asuka landed on top of him though. Shinji grunted from the weight of Asuka's body landing on top of his.

"Asuka?" Shinji said while shaking her body some. She was so small and frail in his arms, it was impossible to believe that she was actually so strong. The pleasant scent of her shampoo tickled his nose. Shinji was enjoying having Asuka's lithe body draped over him. Asuka slowly started coming to her senses and her eyes opened looking straight into Shinji's eyes. Neither one did anything for a few moments. They just kept staring at each other. Asuka was the first to act when she realized the position that they were in. Her face turned bright red and she quickly jumped off of Shinji.

"What the hell were you doing to me?!" Asuka screamed, "You damn pervert trying to take advantage of me while I was passed out!"

"I didn't do anything! You're the one who was on top of ME!" Shinji shot back, "I got pushed into the hole by Sagara. When I landed on that net, it snapped from our combined weight and then you landed on top of me."

"Well just make sure that you watch yourself pervert. So where are we anyways?" Asuka said while looking at their surroundings. Walls of solid steel surrounded them, the floor was dirt and the net that had caught them was covering the floor. The diameter of the hole was about 2 meters and they were about 20 feet down.

"Your training starts right now!" Sagara said to them from the top of the hole. "You two are to figure out a way to get out of this hole. If you guys are unable to figure this out then you'll probably be stuck down there for a long time." Souske then left their view and they didn't hear from him anymore.

"Fuck you asshole!" Asuka screamed, "When I get out of here I'm going to kill you!"

"Asuka calm down," Shinji said, "We need to think about how to get ourselves out of this."

"Baka Shinji, we're in a big hole. Do you have a knife or something that we can use to cut this net and use it for rope?"

"No…"

"Yeah I didn't think so," Asuka bitched, "They can't just leave us here, this is probably just time out for talking back to the Sergeant. They'll have to come and get us eventually. Sit back and just wait Third, they'll come get us out of here in a few hours." Asuka leaned up against a wall and stretched out the best she could.

^_^_^_^_^

5 hours later

"Asuka… Why do you pilot Eva?" Shinji asked as they waited for their rescue.

"What kind of a stupid question is that?" Asuka asked with a befuddled face and tone, "Never mind… I forgot who I was talking to. I pilot so that I can show the world my greatness, why else would I pilot Eva?"

"So you pilot to prove yourself to the world?"

"I guess you could put it that way… Why do you pilot?"

"So that I can protect those I care about. I don't want other people to have to suffer the burden of piloting Eva if I can do it instead."

"Talking to you gives me a headache Third. You say some of the dumbest things that I've ever heard. This is the potential end of the world that we're talking about. If people have the power to do something about it, they're not going to care whether or not you can shoulder the entire burden. They will do something to help."

^_^_^_^_^

10 hours later

Asuka awoke with a loud yawn and she stretched out. She looked around and saw that it was daylight and Shinji was awake. "Has anyone come by yet to tell us that we're going to be let out now?"

"No one's come by yet," Shinji said, "I don't think anyone is coming to get us Asuka. I think Sagara was serious about us getting of here on our own."

"If he wanted us to figure out how to get out of here on our own, then how do you propose that we do that then?"

"I don't know… I tried climbing the walls earlier while you were asleep. There's nothing to grab on to. I can't figure out how to use the net to get out of here either. Any ideas?"

"None. Like I said, they have to come get us eventually."

^_^_^_^_^

2 hours later

"So what kinds of girls do you like Shinji?" Asuka asked. She bored and just trying to kill time.

Shinji was inspecting the hole that they were stuck in, trying to think of a way to get out. Shinji was caught off guard by Asuka actually wanting to talk. For the last 17 hours they haven't had much to talk about. Shinji had learned quite a bit more about Asuka then he had before, but this was a rather personal question in his eyes.

"Excuse me?" Shinji said as he turned to look over at Asuka.

"I said what kinds of girls do you like Shinji?" Asuka repeated herself sounding slightly annoyed.

"Ummm… I don't know… I guess girls who are nice with a pretty face. Anyone that isn't like you," Shinji said with a grin.

"Hah… it would be an honor for you to date anyone that resembles me in any way, but as for me I wouldn't date you even if you the LAST man on Earth."

"Hahaha… Well at least that's something that we can both actually agree on."

"Don't get so full of yourself, you're not even that cute," Asuka said as she was starting to get irritated.

"So you think I'm a little cute though," Shinji said.

"As if BAKA!" Asuka screamed at him her face turning red. She quickly turned away from him.

Shinji could only laugh to himself, as he continued inspecting their prison. Shinji was pleased with himself to find out that Asuka thought he was cute. He thought that Asuka was the most beautiful girl he had ever met, but he would sooner die before he ever said that to her of all people.

^_^_^_^_^

3 hours later

Shinji now realized that the hole was about wide enough for a person touch one side with hands and the other side with his feet and hold himself in position. The only problem was that he couldn't figure out how to move up without falling on his face. He had himself firmly in position and tried to take a step, his first step was successful. His second step was successful, now for the tricky part. He moved one hand quickly and was able to hold himself up. He moved a second hand, he was still holding himself up. He continued to repeat this process until he had moved up about 3 or 4 feet when his arms decided that they weren't strong enough to keep going and his hands started to slip. Shinji tried pushing more against the walls, but his sweating palms couldn't maintain their grip on the wall and Shinji began to fall. He hit the ground with a thud. Shinji rolled over covered in sweat and dirt while breathing heavily.

At this point Asuka was starting to have doubts as to whether anyone was going to come for them. And seeing Shinji fail yet again, even though it was funny when he first started, she saw a potential solution.

"You have the right idea trying to push against the walls to keep you up, but you're never going to be able to get all the way to the top without wearing yourself out," Asuka explained, "Come stand over here and face that way."

"Let me… catch my breath… and rest a little before I try something else," Shinji said while panting heavily.

"Well hurry up you big baby," Asuka whined.

Shinji caught his breath after resting for a few minutes. He went over and set himself up as she instructed. They stood at the center of the hole standing back to back and their arms interlocked. Both teenagers reached out with their feet and place one against opposing walls. By the time they got their feet into position, they were pressing up against each other back to back. Slowly they started to walk their way up the hole. Shinji found it a lot easier be able to lean against Asuka to help support rather than trying to hold himself up. They eventually made it to the top of the hole.

"Okay so we're at the top, now what?" Asuka asked.

"What do you mean now what? This was your idea, I thought you had an idea on how to get out once we got to the top," Shinji said.

"I got us here to the top at least, you could do your part and think of a way to get us out of this position safely," Asuka said.

"Well you could try taking my hand," Sergeant Sagara Souske said.

They both turned their heads to see Souske was standing at the edge of the hole extending his hand for one of them to take.

Asuka could only scowl, "Why the hell am I going to take your hand? You're probably going to just drop us back into the hole," Asuka said.

"Shut up and hold onto me," Shinji said. Asuka was shocked that he actually sounded like a man. Shinji undid one of the arms that he had interlocked with Asuka, the other hand took her hand and held on as tightly as he could. Sagara took Shinji's hand and pulled him up. Asuka swung down and her feet hit the wall since Shinji wasn't supporting her weight anymore. Shinji held onto Asuka as tightly as he could, he didn't want to drop her back into the hole. Souske was able to pull both of them out of the hole with no difficulty.

"You both pass your first test," Souske said, "It took you over 20 hours to complete, but at least you two were both able to get out of the pit together."

"You mean to tell me that you were going to leave us there as long as needed in order to get us to work together to get out of the hole?" Asuka asked.

"That is correct," Souske said.

"Neither one of you knows how to depend on someone else for help. Both of you believe that you alone can accomplish the task. This test was to show that you must be able to lean on each other for strength and support in order to do what must be done," Souske explained.

"But the two of us still couldn't get out of the hole, it was our team work that got us to the top, but it was because you were here that we were actually able to get out of the hole," Shinji said.

"Exactly, that's because there are other people who are still help you two complete your missions. They just stand on the side lines and offer a hand when the two of you need it." Souske explained.

"SO WE WERE IN THAT HOLE FOR AN ENTIRE DAY SO THAT YOU COULD TEACH US THAT LESSON?! THAT IS COMPLETELY FUCKING RETARDED! WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE JUST TOLD US?!" Asuka flared at learning the true meaning of her being in a hole for an entire day.

"Because this lesson is more meaningful now than if I had just explained that truth to you," Souske said.

"FUCK THAT!" Asuka said and stormed off towards the Nerv barracks.

Shinji watched Asuka storm off. He could understand why she was so upset about the extent their lesson had gone. But Shinji understood why Souske had done what he had done, and Shinji considered this to be a valuable experience that he really did need to learn.

"Thank you Sergeant Sagara," Shinji said and bowed to Souske.

"You can call me Souske," Souske said, "Go get some rest, the real training begins tomorrow at 0600."

^_^_^_^_^

A/N: Hahahaha... Yeah I based that scenario off of Emperor's New Groove. I thought it was a great way to teach them the importance of team work and being able to depend on other people for help.

I would like to be able to add Kaname to the story but I haven't thought of a good way to work her into the story as a significant character. Maybe just a brief cameo, we'll see.

I do intend to add a lemon scene or two eventually, but I don't want this story to be completely based on Asuka and Shinji having sex. So you guys are gonna have to be patient.

I always love reading the reviews that I get from you guys. Boosts my narcistic ego. I am especially proud for making hokuten mage stop reading just because he didn't like how I portrayed Yui! Hahahaha...


	11. You and I

Chapter 11

"How goes their training?" Commander Fuyutski asked.

"They have completed the first test," Souske replied.

"Good, what results do you expect by the end of the month?" Fuyutski asked.

"They have potential," Souske explained, "they could easily be a force to be reckoned with, but they are young, undisciplined and unruly. It will take time."

"Very good Sergeant, we expect promising results," Fuyutski said. Souske saluted and did an about face. He was about to step off when Yui who was standing behind Fuyutski called to him.

"Sergeant…" Yui called out. Sergeant Sagara stopped and did another about face towards Yui Ikari.

"Yes Ma'am!" Sagara called out.

"Would there be any problems if I stopped by and witnessed the training sessions?" Yui asked.

"No Ma'am! There would be no problems at all."

"Thank you Sergeant. You are dismissed," Yui said. Sagara again saluted the pair and left the room.

"Do you already miss him Yui? It is good that you put on such a cold appearance in front he old men. If not then they would surely try to control us by threatening to harm Shinji," Fuyutski said in an amused tone.

"He is my son Kozo. What else would you have a mother do?" Yui said, "My dreams, ambitions and goals are for his sake as well as mine."

"Shinji is in good hands," Fuyutski assured, "Sergeant Sagara comes highly recommended from Mithril. If anyone can prepare the boy for what's to come, it is that man."

"I have faith that Shinji will be able to do what he needs to," Yui said, "what worries me is that he will grow up on me."

^_^_^_^_^

Shinji was never naturally athletic or competitive in nature, so he never really found the desire to do any more physical activity then what his training to pilot Eva demanded of him. 12 years of training to be an Eva pilot was easier than the first week of Souske's coordination training had been. Shinji and Asuka were caring a wooden plank and on that wooden plank sat a 50 lbs ball, they had to carry that wooden plank and make sure that the ball sat on the plank. Not only that, but they had to carry it through an obstacle course of tires, ramps, stairs, platforms, balance beams, and wooden poles set up in a variety of different ways. They had yet to even complete the course through once and Shinji had lost track of how many times they had already run through it. They were just about to start the course again for the umpteenth time.

Shinji and Asuka set themselves up at the starting carrying the plank and ball. They held the wooden plank like a stretcher, Shinji was in the front and Asuka stood in the back. They stood ready waiting for Souske to give them the signal.

"Begin!" Souske yelled and started his stop watch.

Shinji and Asuka took off at a steady jogging pace. They reached their first obstacle, a bunch of tires set up in a staggered line. They high stepped their way across the series of tires with no problem, the first obstacle that they were forced to master. Next a pair of steep parallel ramps that led to a series of platforms. The duo had to change their formation so that they ran side by side. They had learned that going straight onto one of the ramps would force the ball to roll off the plank. It was simply easier to balance the ball by going up the pair of ramps side by side. They both ran up the parallel ramps synchronously, and stood on parallel platforms. As they ran across the platforms there were wooden poles that stood straight up and poles that came straight down from above them. This forced the duo to lift and lower the plank to dodge the poles. One of the poles happened to hit the ball, there were no railings or anything to prevent the ball from falling off the plank. They both noticed that ball had been hit and was making its way towards the edge of the plank. They stopped to balance the ball on the plank.

Asuka gave Shinji a dirty look as if it was his fault for the ball being hit by the pole. Shinji didn't bother arguing with her, he just wanted to complete the obstacle course. Next was a field of wooden poles, the poles were placed into the ground in random places and stood straight up. They were secured into the ground so that they could support Shinji's and Asuka's body weight. This is where they stopped and turned to face each other while carrying the stretcher and the ball.

"Ok we know how we need to get across this part, so don't mess it up this time Baka!" Asuka demanded.

"You were the lost your balance last time! I tried moving to help you regain it and ended up losing the ball!" Shinji argued.

"I lost my balance because you were going too slow!"

"Sigh…Sorry, I'll try harder to keep up with you then," Shinji said while shaking his head.

"You better third, let's go."

The children stepped off onto the poles. The poles were only big enough to place one foot comfortably. The duo would step onto a pole and their rear foot follow and step onto a different pole. Shinji and Asuka had to watch each other so that one wouldn't go faster than the other. Shinji and Asuka made their way across the field of poles at a steady pace. Asuka got a flow of the pace and started to go a little faster. Shinji started to have trouble keeping an eye out for his footing and keeping track of Asuka's movements. The poles started to get farther apart as they got closer to the other side. Shinji eyed a pole and looked back at Asuka, he should've eyed it a bit longer because his foot ended up missing the pole and he went crashing towards the floor. Asuka got pulled by Shinji's weight and followed after him.

Shinji hit a mat that broke his fall, but the 50 lbs ball landed squarely on his crotch and he was in terrible pain. Asuka ended landing on him as well, her supple breasts were pressed against his face, they were so soft. It was too bad that he was in so much pain, otherwise he would've appreciated it a lot more. Asuka quickly got herself out of the embarrassing position and started to berate Shinji while he desperately clung to his balls hoping that the pain to stop.

"Baka! You lost your footing this time! You keep slowing me down!" Asuka hollered at him.

"Asuka!" Souske hollered, and Asuka cringed. "You're going too fast for Shinji to keep up with. You need to understand the limits of your partners and be able to either compensate for their slack or bring yourself down so that they can keep up with you."

Asuka turned away and glared at Shinji. In her mind it was his fault for her getting scolded, if Shinji could just keep up then there would be no problems.

"Shinji!" Souske said, "You need to communicate with Asuka if there are parts that you are having trouble. She thinks that you're keeping up with her just fine. You need to let her know when you're struggling and need help."

"Yes," Shinji squeeked.

^_^_^_^_^

Yui stood in a room with a giant glass window that over saw a wide open area covered in dojo mats. There she saw her son spare against Asuka. Shinji was a rag doll and Asuka was a violent child playing with her toy. Asuka threw a high roundhouse to Shinji's face, Shinji was able to block it, but he did so with a great amount of effort. Asuka placed her foot from the kick and pivoted on it so that she and Shinji were back to back, where she threw an elbow into his gut from the momentum of the pivot. Shinji took the hit and dropped.

"Tell me Sergeant, what is the point of Asuka and Shinji fighting each other?" Yui asked.

"There is an old saying, 'The only way to truly know someone is to trade blows with them,'" Souske said, "In order for them to fight together against an opponent they must know how their partner fights."

"So this is so that Shinji and Asuka can learn each other's fighting styles?" Yui inquired, "Shinji is learning a lot about Asuka's fighting technique, but Asuka doesn't seem to be learning much though."

"In time as Shinji learns Asuka's fighting style, his skills will grow to match hers. Then their abilities will be evenly matched and they can truly learn to fight as one."

"Interesting methods Sergeant," Yui said, "Let's just hope that Shinji is able to survive that long."

"The boy is passive, but he carries endless potential and motivation," Souske commented.

Shinji blocked another roundhouse kick from Asuka. Before Asuka could initiate anything else, Shinji grabbed the leg and swept the other leg from underneath her. Shinji looked down at Asuka on her back and was proud for anticipating her kick. Poor boy became complacent too early though. Asuka twirled her legs and knocked Shinji on his back while getting herself back on her feet in a single fluid motion. Shinji was taken by complete surprise and hit the floor with a thud. Asuka took advantage of this and dropped an elbow into Shinji's stomach.

"Eventually at least," Souske said.

^_^_^_^_^

Kaji walked down the corridors of Nerv alone. Only a few security guards were patrolling the compound, since the security to get into Nerv was so tight, they were complacent with their internal guard. There was still the issue of getting into the individual areas of Nerv, some departments still required special key cards or other identification methods. Fortunately he saw Maya Ibuki making her way towards Kaji. This was a prime opportunity for him.

"Hey Maya, what are you doing here so late on a Saturday night?" Kaji asked.

"Evening Ryoji-san, I'm just taking care of some work that Senpai needed done before Monday," Maya responded.

"Ritsuoko is a slave driver to work her cute little junior so hard," Kaji said, "Your boyfriend must get jealous with how much time you spend at work. He doesn't think you're cheating on him with someone at work does he?"

"Hahaha… I don't have a boyfriend Ryoji-san. I'm just too busy with work to even think about dating anyone," Maya said.

"What? I figured that this whole base would be hounding after you," Kaji said sounding truly shocked.

"Well… Most of the other guys are into Misato-san," Maya said while blushing.

"Haha… I was with Misato while we were in college and she isn't as charming as everyone seems to think," Kaji said whispering in her ear, "You seem to have so much more to offer."

^_^_^_^_^

Kaji and Maya were in the women's locker room and he was groping her ass while kissing against her neck. Maya was released a soft moan, she lifted one of her legs and wrapped it around Kaji's torso. Kaji moved his hand from her ass to the leg that was wrapped around him and he began to stroke her bare skin. Maya eagerly pulled off Kaji's sloppy tie and opened his shirt and caused all the buttons to pop off. She stroked his muscular chest and started to kiss him more. Kaji undid Maya's top to expose her perky breasts, he continued to pull back the rest of her top so that he could fully appreciate her upper body. She wore a white laced bra that had a convenient hook on the front of her bra for Kaji to easily undo, her breast bounced out of their elastic confines.

Kaji began to fondle her perky melons and began to vigorously suck and lick her nipples. Kaji moved one his hands under her skirt towards her ass, he slipped his hand in between her ass and panties and began squeeze her soft cheeks. Kaji figured her to be a nice girl and wouldn't appreciate a finger in the ass, so he held off on that. He used his thumb to grab the elastic band of her panties and began to slide them down her slender legs. Kaji slid his nose down her flat stomach, leaving kisses as he made way down south. Maya lifted her legs to make it easier for Kaji to remove her panties. He then began to eat her pussy out. His tongue made its way into the depth of Maya's vagina and his nose would tickle her clit. He switched to her clitoris and his tongue played with her clitoris as Maya moaned in pleasure. She panted heavily and her body would tense at the intense pleasure that Kaji was providing her. Maya's pussy was nice and wet for the main event.

The bridge tech hadn't had sex since before she graduated from college. Since she had become part of Nerv, she didn't have time for anything. None of the men really took notice of her when she was completely overshadowed by people like Misato and her Sempai. She was just so sick of how all the men would drool over Misato all the time. She never stopped hearing about how her coworkers and colleagues were in love with Misato. It was nice that for once, she was actually getting complimented and Misato was being put down. Maya eyed Kaji as he undid his pants and pulled out his soldier standing at attention for her. She eyed it hungrily and spread her legs ready to take.

Kaji picked up one of her legs and positioned himself for insertion. He slid himself in nice and smooth. His could feel her vaginal walls squeezing his throbbing penis. Maya let out a cry of pure ecstasy at feeling a man inside her after so many years. Kaji himself couldn't even believe how good Maya felt. He started to thrust and gyrate with intensity. Kaji had known women like Maya before, she was a sex deprived woman that needed a good time. Giving it to her rough and hard would be so much satisfying then being gentle with her. Maya was panting, moaning and screaming years of sexual needs that had been neglected. Kaji was a pro, he gave it to her hard and rough, but he moved at a steady pace that he changed depending on how she reacted. Maya climaxed and just about collapse if not for Kaji holding onto her, but Kaji still had his stiffy. It wouldn't do for him to be walking around with it, so he pulled out of Maya and turned her around while holding her up.

Maya's legs were wobbling, so she placed her hands on the wall to help support herself. Kaji grabbed her hips and started thrusting away at a higher pace than before. Kaji maintained his allegro tempo and the volume of Maya's screams corresponded to how Kaji was feeling. Kaji reached around to fondle Maya's breasts with one hand while the other played with her clitoris. Maya's body was rippling with pleasure that her legs couldn't support her weight with the help of her hands. Her knees buckled and her hands and face slid down the wall until they were on the floor. She now rested on her knees, hands and face on the cold tile floor, drool dripping from her mouth, and she was still screaming. Kaji was beginning to get worried that someone might end up walking in on them. Not something that he enjoyed explaining when he got caught. Kaji was just about to bust, he pulled out and unloaded all over the bridge bunny. Maya was covered from her head to her ass. Kaji really hoped that she had an extra uniform.

Feeling content and satisfied with himself, Kaji searched Maya's clothes for her key card. He found what he needed and headed for his objective. He quickly got dressed and left Maya in the women's locker room. He casually walked up to the bridge and swiped the key card to get onto the bridge. He accessed Maya's computer terminal and started to access what information the Magi possessed. Maya was only a bridge tech, so she carried limited access into the Magi, most of the files that Kaji wanted to access were restricted to her or didn't even register. He would have to find other means of accessing the Magi.

He was able to bring up the separate specs of each of the Eva's. There were the specs for several different Eva's that were currently in production. Kaji brought up the specs for Unit-03, the Marduk Institute still hadn't found a pilot for Unit-03. He kept searching for anything that could be a potential lead. Kaji was able to access the other Magi super computers in the other parts of the world and brought up their shipping documents. He saw that the Magi in China had records for receiving enough parts to construct 12 Evas. Kaji tried to bring up the schematics for any Evas that China was producing, but Maya's login couldn't bring up anything. Not being to find anything else of any interest, Kaji logged off the console and left the bridge. Not wanting his cute little bridge bunny to get into any serious trouble, Kaji took the liberty of going back to the women's locker room. Maya was still in the same position that he had left her in. He quickly returned her key card to where he had found and woke Maya from her sleep. Kaji kept thinking as why China would be building 12 Evas? Currently there was production for up 6, and those Evas had contracts with different countries. Who would have China to secretly build 12 Evas?

^_^_^_^_^

Shinji didn't play sports. He was forced to take martial arts classes for the sake of piloting Eva, it was something that came extremely slow to him. Shinji was currently dribbling a basketball, looking like a klutz. His ball handling was sloppy and goofy looking. Asuka apparently had some athletic talent since she made him look like a complete loser. Since Shinji was so terrible at playing basketball, Souske declared that Shinji had to get as good as Asuka in order to continue the training. So Shinji was endlessly running drills to improve his basketball skills. Souske had him running suicides up and down the court, dribble a ball everywhere he went, passing drills, shooting and lay ups. Asuka was right there with him to motivate him to improve. Souske thought that anything could be achieved with an endless amount of hard work. Shinji was a bit more of a realist and believed that no amount of hard work could compensate for incompetence.

"Why do I need to learn to play basketball?" Shinji whined.

"You two are learning to move as one by running the obstacle course," Souske explained, "but in combat you won't be moving with your team mates at all times. On the basketball court, it is important to understand how your team mates move, to keep track of their location, and their intended course of movements and actions at all times."

"Aren't there any other drills or exercises that we can use other than basketball?" Shinji asked.

"There are, but basketball is a better practical application," Souske said, "Now shut the hell up and keep drilling!"

"Yes sir!" Shinji said instinctively.

"There wouldn't be a problem with taking a break for lunch now would there?" Yui asked while walking into the gymnasium with a bundle of bentos and a thermos.

"Yes Ma'am," Souske barked at attention, "Ikari, Sorhyu, be grateful that Dr. Ikari is kind enough to bring you lunch in the middle of your training."

"Thank You…" Shinji and Asuka said in unison while trying to catch their breath.

Yui, Shinji, and Asuka all sat together ready to eat, Souske stood off to the side waiting for them to finish.

"Sergeant, there is enough for you as well," Yui invited, "Shinji is a growing boy, but there is no way that he could eat your portion as well."

"Thank you very much Ma'am, but that won't be necessary."

"If you were to refuse my cooking, then I would believe that it was because you thought it was disgusting," Yui said, her eyes showed sadness as if Souske really had eaten her food and thought it was disgusting.

Souske started to sweat at being put on the spot, potentially insulting his employer, and having made a woman cry. "I… I… I never m…mmm…. Meant anything like that! I would love to try your lunch!"

"Why thank you Sergeant, I'm flattered," Yui said with a smile.

Souske sat down and took a bento from Yui and started digging in with Shinji and Asuka. He was still a little stiff, not being used to eating with his employers and superiors so casually.

"This is delicious Dr. Ikari…" Asuka exclaimed.

"It's not that great," Yui said modestly, "It's Shinji's recipe and he makes it so much better."

Asuka stopped and looked over at Shinji with a befuddled expression on her face. Shinji's face was already turning slightly red with embarrassment. It wasn't a fact that he was particularly proud of.

"Third can cook? Better than this?" Asuka said not expecting an answer.

"Well I was always so busy with work that I never had time to cook for Shinji or Rei," Yui explained, "I don't know when, but he started to cook on his own. And he eventually became better at cooking and cleaning than me. Shinji and Rei became independent, and they were taking care of themselves. They didn't need me anymore."

"It's not like that!" Shinji yelled and looked as if he was about to stand. The he slumped down a little, "I was just trying to help Mom out because she was always so busy and stressed from work. It wasn't easy for her being a single mother, always taking us to work with her..."

Yui smiled for her son's compassion. She placed a hand on Shinji's head and said, "And everyday I'm grateful to have a son like you."

Shinji sat their quietly and took in the compliment. He didn't think that he really deserved it. Wouldn't anyone in his same position do as he had done? He didn't think that his actions needed words of gratitude, but he was happy to accept them regardless.

Asuka sat off to the side as this all played out in front of her. She didn't show it to the people who were in front of her, she would never show weakness to anyone, not even herself. She didn't betray her emotions to anyone around her, but she could feel it all in her heart.

^_^_^_^_^

Shinji was exhausted from another day of training with Souske. He got caught by Misato and she played the typical older sister, fretting over how he was doing and making sure that Souske wasn't being too mean to him. Shinji had assured her that the training was going well and ensuring her that Sgt Sagara was a great instructor. Shinji finally got back to the room, Asuka had gone ahead of him after they had finished eating. Shinji opened the door to the room and saw the door to the bathroom open as he came in. He saw Asuka drying her hair with her towel and the rest of her body exposed for him to see. For a 16 year old girl, she could easily compare to Misato who was a fully grown woman, Asuka could still develop more. Shinji's jaw dropped at seeing the naked teenager, Asuka didn't fully realize that Shinji could see her naked body. When Asuka finished drying her hair and lowered her towel, she saw Shinji standing at the other end of the room with his jaw hanging wide open. Asuka quickly turned red, covered her body with her towel, and commenced hurling anything that she could get her hands on. Shinji was hit by a full bottle of water, a bottle of shampoo, a book and few other things that he didn't recognize. He was already trying to get out of the room by the time the first object hit him in the face. The woman threw with deadly accuracy.

"Get the fuck out you bastard!" Asuka screamed as she launched projectiles at Shinji, "Pervert, degenerate, scumbag, idiot, HENTAI!"

Shinji sat outside in the hall way and waited for Asuka to put on her clothes. He could hear her swearing in German the entire time. He didn't understand a word that she was saying but he cringed at the sound of some of them. As Shinji sat in the hallway for a while and waited until he thought that Asuka had calmed down a bit. He finally got up to try opening the door, but the door was locked. Shinji reached for his keys, but he couldn't find them on his person. He must have dropped them when he was scrambling out of the room. He tried knocking, hoping that Asuka would let him in. It was a long shot, but it was better than sleeping in the hall. Shinji knocked.

"Asuka are you dressed yet?" Shinji asked.

"Not yet you dirty little pervert!" Asuka screamed at him through the door. It didn't sound as intense as earlier, so she must be not as mad.

"Come on Asuka, stop bullshitting," Shinji chided, "There's no way that you can take this long to get dressed."

"Well I'm still getting dressed baka!" Asuka said, "Enter and Die!"

"I'm sorry that I saw you coming out of the bathroom," Shinji said, he was blushing thinking about it. "I didn't realize that you were in the shower, I should've knocked or at least been more careful."

"You're NOT forgiven!"

Shinji only sighed to himself and leaned against the wall by the door. He was so tired from the training that he fell right asleep. He dreamt of the potential summer vacation that he could've had instead of spending it training with Asuka. He dreamt of going to the beach, camping, hanging out with his friends in the arcades, meet girls, have a summer fling. Shinji was rudely awakened by something nudging his ribs. He looked up from his slumbering position and saw that Asuka was standing over him poking him in the ribs with her foot.

She didn't even look at him while she talked, "You can sleep in the room if you want to, I'm done dressing."

Shinji was too tired to argue with Asuka about specifics. He just simply followed her into the room without any argument. Lucky for him, his futon was already spread out, he simply crashed into it his bed. He was almost asleep when he heard Asuka saying something to him.

"You're so lucky Shinji…" Asuka said from her futon.

"Huh… Asuka?" Shinji asked.

"The relationship between you and your mom," Asuka stated, "I've never had anything like that."

"What are you talking about Asuka?" Shinji asked, "What was it like growing up with your mom?"

"My childhood wasn't anything like yours. My mother didn't give me the same attention as you got from yours… She wasn't always well and she would easily forget who I was," Asuka said trying as best she could to keep back the tears.

"That's terrible Asuka… I'm sorry…" Shinji tried apologizing, "No one should have to go through anything like that… "

Asuka laid on her futon quietly, facing away from Shinji, not saying a word. Shinji didn't know what he should say to her. He wanted to be able to say something to comfort her, but he couldn't think of anything. Shinji could feel the awkwardness building up between them, he felt as if he needed to say something more.

Shinji suddenly sat up and faced Asuka. "It doesn't matter what your mother thought of you!" Shinji said, "Who you are now is what matters. You are an Evangelion pilot, a protector of humanity, and it is my honor and pleasure to be able to fight by your side."

There were several moments of silence and Shinji could only stare at Asuka's back in the darkness. She finally stirred and pulled her blanket over herself completely.

"Baka Shinji. You don't know anything, go to sleep already." Asuka said, but her tone didn't reflect what her words conveyed.

^_^_^_^_^

Their training continued, they were far from being perfect, but they made progress. The weeks of their summer vacation were swept up in the sweat and blood of their training. Shinji and Asuka were able to complete the obstacle course of carrying the weighted ball on a wooden plank. However, once they finished the course, Souske remade the course so that it would be more difficult for them to pass. He made the balance beams and platforms tilted, added rope bridges that would easily sway from any type of movement, the wooden poles would be a different and random heights, and many more things left to the imagination.

Their sparring sessions were not completely one-sided. Shinji could actually read Asuka's movements and understood her fighting style. Souske had them face off against himself. At first they simply got their butts wooped, but as each week passed, their skills and coordination improved. Souske was pushed further and further into a corner from their combined attacks. He eventually had them face off against multiple opponents. They were still having trouble with three or more targets, but they were showing signs of improvement.

Shinji was eventually able to learn basketball to the point that he was able to play with Asuka against other opponents. The duo could play as well as most amateurs individually. Their coordination was proving to be difficult for players who were more skilled than they were. They would destroy players who were as good as they were, but when they were pitted against players who were more skilled but less coordinated, Shinji and Asuka could put on the pressure and give them a run for their money. Another week or two and their training would be complete, they would be unstoppable.

Souske saw Misato walk into the training area and he instantly knew that the training wasn't going to be completed. Souske saluted the Captain as she approached him, she saluted him back. "The Magi have detected an Angel along the coastline near old Tokyo," Misato said, "the children need to be prepped for battle. Are they ready?"

"No," Souske said, "But they should be able to manage against this."

^_^_^_^_^

Unit-01 and Unit-02 were setup outside of old Tokyo waiting for the Angel. Unit-01 was armed with the spike cannon and Asuka was equipped with a prog Axe. Portable generators were setup in the area for the Evas to have available power sources. Misato sat in a command van on site to govern the course of the battle.

"Asuka, you will take point and Shinji will back you up," Misato ordered, "Asuka you are to let Shinji open fire on the Angel and determine some of its capabilities before engaging."

"Yes Ma'am," Both children answered in unison.

The Angel could be seen marching out of old Tokyo. It looked roughly like the first Angel that Shinji had encountered, but this one had a yin-yang symbol embedded in its chest.

"Evangelions attack!" Misato ordered.

Shinji raised the giant rail gun and fired at his oncoming target, since the rail gun used electromagnets to fire the heavy metal spikes at its targets, Shinji fired away without any concern for recoil. The magnetized projectiles flew straight and true towards their target. The spikes shattered the Angel's AT field like glass. The Angel was impaled by the flying projectiles, and dropped flat on its back. Unit-01 lowered its weapon and gazed upon the fallen target. Unit-02 turned around to face Unit-01.

"That's it? I didn't even get to do anything to it!" Asuka whined.

"See what happens when I fight Angels with the same equipment that you use…" Shinji said. He noticed that fallen Angel started to twist around a bit and suddenly two separate Angels rose in its place. "Asuka behind you!" Unit-01 dropped his weapon and sprinted to Unit-02's location and tackled Unit-02 to the ground, just barely dodging the Angel's claw. Both Eva's hit the ground, Unit-01 ejected his umbilical cable to prevent them from getting tangled and quickly rolled off of Unit-02. Once he was standing, he grabbed another cable and inserted it into his back. They Evas were now pitted against two identical Angels.

^_^_^_^_^

A/N: I didn't want to break up the training into multiple chapters, so I just kept writing until I was finished. I ended up rewriting large portions of this chapter multiple times because I wasn't satisfied with how it turned out. The next chapter isn't going to released for a couple of weeks atleast, so I'm gonna have to ask you guys to please be patient, I'm only an amateur!

I hope you guys enjoyed the lemon scene between Maya and Kaji. In my opinion Maya is a very unappreciated character, I've always had a thing for chicks who could pull off the tomboy haircut.

Well thats all for now. Please Read & Review, I like hearing positive and negative comments about my story. So feel free to talk as much shit as you like.


	12. For the Sake of Others

Chapter 12

The two Angels that stood before them were identical twins. Each had what looked to be a red core embedded in their chests and a circle mask with three holes cut into it. The only difference between them was that one was gold while the other was silver, Alpha and Beta.

"What in the hell is this bullshit?" Misato said in frustration. She was the tactical advisor for operations, but she was completely caught off guard by this sudden surprise.

Unit-01 and Unit-02 stood side by side against the twin Angels. Neither party acted, Shinji tried to size up their opponent and decide what needed to be done. Asuka was excited at seeing multiple opponents for her to face off against.

"Now this is more like it," Asuka said, "Two versus one seemed a little unfair."

Unit-02 suddenly rushed the two Angels, she decided to go after the silver Angel. She swung her axe down on the silver to cleave it in two like a log. Beta jumped back and avoided the attack, Alpha jumped in and swiped at Unit-02 with its claws when Beta was out of the way. Unit-02 AT field prevented any serious damage, but it still knocked Unit-02 back. Shinji wielded dual prog knives and pounced at Alpha, the Angel was able to avoid all of Shinji's attacks. Shinji kept pushing the Angel further back and when he was about to land killing blow into the Angel's core, Beta attacked Unit-01. Shinji saw the attack coming and pulled back and went on the defensive. Both Angel's assaulted Unit-01 relentlessly, Shinji was barely able to keep up with the flurry of attacks coming from both Angels. Alpha swung for Unit-01's head, Unit-01 ducked just in time to keep from having its head removed, but Beta was waiting for him and dug its claw into Unit-01's chest. Unit-01's chest armor kept it from penetrating, but Unit-01 was also knocked back. Both Evangelions were able to recover and got back on their feet.

"These guys are good," Shinji said while he was trying to catch his breath.

"Fuck that, I can take them!" Asuka screamed and charged once again.

"Asuka wait!" Shinji said and rushed in with her.

Unit-02 jumped into the air at the two Angels. Unit-02 threw a roundhouse kick in the air that was quickly followed by a back spinning kick. Both Angels dodged the flagrant barrage of kicks easily, and Unit-02 landed facing Beta and its back to Alpha. Both Angels were about to attack Unit-02 when Unit-01 drove a knee into the chest of Alpha. This caused the core to shatter upon impact and gave Asuka enough breathing room to attack Beta. Unit-02 unsheathed its progressive knife and made a stabbing swing for the Angel's core. The Angel's AT field impeded the knife's path. Unit-01 spread its own AT field to neutralize the Angel's field. Before Unit-01's AT field could neutralize the enemy's AT field, it was attacked by Alpha. Alpha slashed Unit-01 and sent it flying backwards, Asuka noticed that Unit-01 disengaged the enemy and saw that Alpha was up and working. She had seen Unit-01 shatter Alpha's core. Asuka quickly ordered Unit-02 to step back and regroup with Unit-01. The two Eva pilots faced off against the Angel twins again.

"What the hell Baka Shinji?" Asuka hollered, "I thought you had killed the orange Angel!"

"I shattered its core!" Shinji exclaimed, "I don't know how it's still alive!"

"You must've screwed something up!" Asuka bellowed.

"Shinji did destroy the core," Misato said over the com, "The Magi detected an energy transfer that regenerated the core. The Magi believe that both cores need to be shattered at the same time in order to defeat the Angel."

"We have to do what?" Shinji said, his jaw dropped and his face showed a blank shocked expression.

"You have got to be kidding me…" Asuka said.

"The Magi came up with another theory," Misato said, "Since the Angel was originally a single body. It might be possible to force the Angels back into a single body, and then we would only have to destroy the single combined core."

Both children nodded in affirmation, "Roger," they said in unison.

Alpha and Beta stood side by side, about two arms length apart. Unit-01 and 02 stood similarly.

"Let's go Third. We're going to go full power and crush these bastards," Asuka ordered.

"Right! Just like with Souske."

Both Eva's ejected their umbilical cords and they charged the twin Angels. They ran at the Angels in straight line, Unit-01 ran in front and Unit-02 ran directly behind it. This created a slip stream for Unit-02 to gain speed. Unit-02 suddenly jumped over Unit-01 and flew at the Angels. Unit-02 threw a series of kicks at Beta and Unit-01 came in swinging at Alpha. Beta jumped back from Unit-02's pressure, when Beta jumped back then both Eva's assaulted Alpha since its partner was no longer around to provide support. Alpha was pummeled relentlessly by the two Eva. Beta jumped back into the fray, slashing with its claws to aid its comrade. Unit-02 rolled away and dodged the attack, and Unit-01 stood its ground and blocked the claw swipe with his AT field. Unit-02 charged Beta immediately after coming out of the roll. Unit-01 did a good job of holding Beta's attention for Unit-02 to lay down punishment. Unit-02 ended her short assault with a drop axe kicked that knocked Beta into Alpha and the Angel's instantly fused back into a single body.

Both Evas jumped into the air simultaneously, and they were perfectly in synch with each other. They came down upon the Angel with a ferocious kick that burrowed both their feet into the Angel's core. The force of both Evas driving their heels into the Angel caused it to be pushed back over a dozen miles. When the core finally shattered the explosion released consumed the entire area in a 500 yard radius. The entire command deck watched the explosion with pride that Shinji and Asuka were able to defeat another Angel.

"The Children put on an outstanding performance for us, we are very proud of you have been able to do with them Sergeant," Fuyutski said, "We realize that they still have some rough edges that need to be polished and have spoken to Mithril about extending your contract with us. How does that sound Sergeant?"

"It would be my pleasure to continue training with the pilots Sir," Souske said.

"Good, we will leave their training schedule in your capable hands," Yui said, "We just ask that you speak with Dr. Akagi so that we can arrange tests accordingly."

"Yes Ma'am," Souske sounded off.

"You are dismissed Sergeant," Fuyutski said.

Souske saluted the Commander and Dr. Ikari and exited the room.

"Ritsuoko was right about Shinji and Asuka pushing each other unconsciously," Yui said as showed Fuyutski a chart showing the children's improvement. "Shinji's synch ratio is now at 89.6% while Asuka's is 82.9%."

"You sound rather irked about this good news Yui," Fuyutski commented, "Do you feel threatened that this girl is going to steal away your dear Shinji?"

"Shinji is a 16 year old, I'm not so naïve that to believe that he wouldn't be interested in a girl his age. I would like to believe that Shinji is special, but he still possesses a man's lust for sex," Yui said trying to sound nonchalant, "If she does threaten my plans for Shinji, then I will have her disposed of as necessary."

"Shinji cannot fight all the Angel's alone, he will need comrades to support and fight beside him," Fuyutski said sounding surprised.

"You forget Professor," Yui said, "We have a pool of Eva pilots at our disposal who could easily take the Second Child's place."

"You are willing to use children as mere pawns?" Fuyutski said, "They don't even know what it is like to truly live, Asuka is just like Shinji. She has been training her entire life for this, she doesn't know what it's like to be a normal girl. And you would deny her that?"

"You forget your place Professor!" Yui said in a raised voice, slamming her fist onto his desk, "You don't control Nerv, _**I**_ do! You are nothing more than a puppet put in your position by my grace."

Yui glared at Fuyutski with simmering rage. "Remember Professor, you can only gain what you desire by helping me achieve my goals."

"And do you truly think that you can create Eden through Third Impact?" Fuyutski said.

Yui began laughing in a menacing tone. "You forget Professor, it was I who discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls encoded in Adam's DNA. I was the one who created the model theory and schematics that gave us the Evangelions. I will recreate the world and all life as it was meant to be."

"Humans were banished from Eden because they could not appreciate a perfect world," Fuyutski said, "How are you so certain that humanity will accept your idea of a perfect world?"

"It doesn't matter to me if they accept it or not, I do this for Shinji's sake. Our world was broken long before Second Impact and its only worse now, so I will make a beautiful new world for our children to live in."

Summer vacation was over for Shinji, and it was finally time to go back to school. He and Asuka were now on a weekly schedule for combat training with Souske. He and Asuka both moved out of Nerv barracks after the fight against the Angel, and he hadn't seen her since then. The last week of Shinji's vacation was spent catching up on his summer homework. It was the worst summer vacation he ever had in his 16 year old life. Shinji trudged onto the school grounds with Rei. On the way to class the whole school was a buzz about something. Touji approached them as they reached the cousins and he had an excited look on his face.

"Dude, have you heard?" Touji asked.

"Let me guess…" Shinji groaned, "We have a new transfer student… and she's a total babe…" He knew very well who it was and was not looking forward to spending even _more_ time with her. Shinji should've figured that Asuka's arrival would arouse the entire male population on campus at first, until they learned what she was really like.

"Did you already see her?" Touji exclaimed, "I haven't had a chance to see her yet, but everyone is talking about how hot she is."

"Oh I've seen her…" Shinji said in a dull voice.

"Is she really as hot as everyone has been saying?" Touji said with an eager look.

"She's an inferno," Shinji said in a mocking tone, but Touji was so full of anxiety that he didn't register it.

"Sweet… Try and pull the Touji charm on her," Touji said excitedly. Shinji saw Hikari nearby and she could easily hear everything that Touji was saying. Shinji pulled his friend in close so that not so many people would hear.

"You know there's going to be a lot of people that are gonna be hounding after this transfer student. Wouldn't you have better chances with any girls in our class?" Shinji inqured.

"All the girls in our class are prudes and dull looking," Touji said out loud, "I hear this transfer student is half German and has a banging body. Westerners are a lot easier than Japanese girls."

Shinji could see Hikari over Touji's shoulder and she didn't seem to mind what the jock thought. Shinji felt a little bad for Hikari that her feelings had gone unnoticed by the oblivious jock. The one who really lost was Touji for having passed up the opportunity to have been with someone really great. And at that moment their eyes did meet and Shinji understood that Hikari had moved on from Touji.

"Oh yeah, you know we have a new homeroom teacher as well right?" Touji asked.

"No I haven't heard anything about him," Shinji said.

"Yeah all the stupid girls who've seen him have been going crazy about him," Touji said in disgust, "Damn, I hope the new girl doesn't decide to fall for him too."

Shinji could only snicker at his friend's last comment, and headed for his desk when he heard the bell chime. Several minutes passed before their teacher showed up, it was odd that their new homeroom teacher would be late on the first day of class. The door to the classroom opened and entered a man who was a little taller than himself, he had messy long hair that he tied in a pony tail. He had a handsome face, but it was scruffy and unshaven. The man casually strolled into the classroom even though he was 10 minutes late. Hikari stood up when she saw him enter and led everyone in the morning greeting. He wrote his name on the black board, but Shinji couldn't read it all since the new teacher was still in the way. The man turned around and began to introduce himself.

"Good morning class, my name is Kaji Ryoji," Kaji said, "I'll be temporarily taking over as your homeroom teacher until Kawashima-san gets out of the hospital. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

Kaji ended his introduction with a suave smile that all the girls in the class went absolutely crazy for. A majority of the male population were put in a foul mood. Kaji quickly calmed the crazy girls by waving his hand around so that he could continue speaking.

"I'm not the only addition to your class this morning though," Kaji said, "We have a new transfer student here coming all the way from Germany. You can come on in now Asuka."

Asuka walked into the class with the same air of arrogance that she always carried with her. All the other boys dropped their jaws. Shinji dropped his head and hit his desk. He didn't think that they would actually put her in the same class as well. There was just no getting away from her. When Shinji looked up and saw her though, he had to admit that she looked amazing in their school uniform. Her body filled out the skirt and blouse fantastically.

"Arigato Kaji-sensei!" Asuka chirped to the new teacher. Shinji noticed something odd in the way she spoke to him, did Asuka already know him?

"I'm Asuka Sorhyu Langley!" Asuka exclaimed to the class exuberantly as she bowed, "It's a pleasure to meet you all. I'm here in Japan from Germany because I'm the pilot of Evangelion Unit-02."

Shinji only groaned at this statement, while the rest of the class gasped in amazement. Touji and the rest of the class looked from Asuka, directly to Shinji and Rei. The entire class was bustling with excitement about the new turn of events. Ryoji-sensei quickly stepped in to calm the class down.

"Ok… Ok… everyone, calm down and let's begin class," Kaji said, "Asuka, go take a seat behind Shinji."

At lunch time Asuka was invited to have lunch with Hikari, since she was the class rep, she felt that it was her responsibility to make friends with the new girl and make her feel comfortable. The two took an instant liking to each other and became quick friends. Shinji ate with Touji, but the only thing that he kept going on about was how hot Asuka was.

"Oh man you were right about her dude," Touji said as he looked over at Asuka and Hikari, "You should put in a good word for me since you're both Eva pilots."

"Eeehhh… You should really try for another girl Touji," Shinji said.

"No way man, she's the one!" Touji said enthusiastically.

Shinji could only sigh at his friend's stubbornness and ignorance. He looked over at Asuka and Hikari, and he noticed that Asuka had been looking in his direction. Their eyes met for a moment, and she quickly looked away.

"Hikari, how long have you known Shinji for?" Asuka asked.

"What? Ummm… Since primary school…" Hikari replied nervously, "Why… do you ask?"

"I have to work with that Baka, so its best I get to know him," Asuka said.

"He's a good person, he's sweet, and gentle. He's always trying to look out for everyone, like he's some sort of guardian angel."

Asuka turned and looked at Hikari giving her a queer eye. Asuka could feel the compassion in her voice.

"You like him don't you?" Asuka asked.

Hikari instantly turned deathly pale and her heart stopped at Asuka's comment. She turned and looked at her with a blank look on her face.

"NO! Shinji is like a brother to me," Hikari said with a pink face, "I've known him for so long that I could never think of him that way.

"Yeah, I can't see anyone falling for a loser like him," Asuka said, "He's weak, spineless coward."

"NO HE'S NOT!" Hikari stood up and yelled for the entire class to hear. She immediately realized what she had done and sat down quickly with her head bowed from the embarrassment. Asuka could only stare at her with a giant grin on her face.

"So how long have you felt this way?" Asuka asked.

"Since our last year of middle school," Hikari said, "I used to like Touji because he was the one who was athletic, cool, popular, and he's cute. I told Shinji, and then he would keep trying to get Touji to notice me. But he's such rock, that he never noticed me. And slowly I started to realize what a great guy Shinji was and before I knew it, I had fallen for him."

"Shinji is a loser, you should forget about him," Asuka said, "Kaji is a real man now."

"Our new teacher?" Hikari said with a gasp, "I didn't think that you were like that Asuka. You sound like you knew him before today."

"I knew him while I was back in Germany," Asuka said dreamily, "None of these boys can come even close to comparing to Kaji."

Asuka sighed as she thought about Kaji, but for some reason her gaze fell upon Ikari once again. Asuka cursed to herself and quickly looked away when she saw him turn his head to looks towards her. She only hoped that Shinji hadn't noticed her looking at him again.

For PE the boys were playing basketball and the girls were playing volleyball. Rei didn't enjoy participating in physical education because of her lack of social skills. Horaki was always nice and understanding to her, but she was that way to everyone. Most of the other girls thought she was odd and stayed away from her as much as possible. Rei sat on the side lines watching the volleyball game and hearing the cheers of her classmates, a world that she would never be a part of. While she sat and watched the game, a shadow suddenly fell over her and when she looked up to see who it was, there stood a red head with blue eyes eclipsing the sun from her view.

"You must be Rei Ayanami, the pilot of the Prototype model," Asuka said, "We should be friends."

"Excuse me?" Rei said with confusion.

"We're both Eva pilots, so because of that we should get along with each other and be good friends," Asuka explained.

"I don't understand why we should be friends just because we both have the same line of work," Rei stated.

Asuka was baffled by her answer. "Are you an idiot? Because it would be convenient being friends, classmates and coworkers." Asuka said.

"I see no reason for any such relationship with you unless I'm ordered to."

"So you're friends with the Third because you were ordered to?" Asuka accused.

"No, I choose to maintain a relationship with Ikari because I choose to," Rei replied.

"And why is he so special to you? He's just a sorry loser,"

Rei quickly stood up and faced Asuka eye to eye. "You are no one to talk about Shinji in that way," Rei said full of spite, "Just because you are unable to accept the fact that he is the superior pilot to yourself does not give you the right to say those things about him. He has lived his entire life for the sake of others and helping everyone around him. He is the most noble and honorable person I have known in my life and I will not stand for you to insult him such a manner."

Suddenly there was a cheer of girls coming from the gymnasium that the boys were playing basketball. Asuka and Rei both made their way to the commotion. They looked over the heads of the other girls and saw Touji with the basketball and Shinji guarding him. Touji crossed the balls between his legs and tried to fake step to his right and then roll left. Shinji wasn't fooled by any of it and stuck with Touji the entire way. Shinji saw an opening and made swipe at the ball that Touji carried, and it went loose bouncing down the court. Someone on Shinji's team grabbed the ball and ran down the court with it. Shinji ran down the court following his team mate. Members of Touji's team were running with the pair and ready to play defense. Shinji's team mate bounce passed the ball to Shinji as he ran up to the basket. Shinji caught the ball in a fluid motion and put the ball in the basket for a layup. The girls in the crowd went wild for the performance. Shinji ran back on defense giving high fives to his team mates.

Asuka grinned at seeing Shinji in action. Asuka leaned over to Rei and whispered in her ear, "He's a loser because he can become so much more than what he already is." Asuka turned around and left Rei standing there.

Shinji was in the music room playing the cello. He rarely had time to play the instrument anymore so he tried to play whenever he got the opportunity. Since the Angel's started attacking, there was a lot more to do at Nerv so Shinji didn't have tests and training every day. This left him with time to do stuff after school with his friends. He still couldn't join any clubs, but he actually had some free time now. Shinji sat alone in the music room, it was after school and the music club wasn't practicing that day, so there wasn't anyone around. Shinji lost sense of his surroundings and had become immersed in playing. He could feel the notes resounding within the small room, as well as the vibrations reverberating from the cello strings. Shinji neared the end of the piece and brought his bow and the strings to halt, and simply sat there absorbing the music into himself. It was when the last note died out that he actually realized that there was someone clapping.

"Very good third," Asuka said standing at the doorway, "I'm impressed, I didn't know that you could play so well."

"I'm not very good," Shinji said modestly, "I only play once in a while when I have days off from testing and training."

"How long have you been playing for?" Asuka asked.

"I think I started when I was around 7 or 8 years old," Shinji said, "My mom taught me how to play and I've been playing since."

"Such the ideal son," Asuka said, "Is there anything that you do that pisses off your mom?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shinji said sounding upset.

"I mean as far as I can tell," Asuka said, "Everything that you do is for someone else's sake. Has there ever been a time in your life that you actually did something because it benefitted just you or just because you and you alone wanted to do it."

"Of course there has!" Shinji rebuttled.

"Name one time."

"Well… there was…." Shinji ran through all of his childhood memories but he couldn't think of anything.

"My point exactly," Asuka said, "It's great that you do so much for the people that you care about, but you're never going to be happy if you can't live for yourself. You're going to crash trying to fulfill everyone else's expectations of you."

A/N: I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to release. I've been swamped at work for the last couple of weeks. I've been too tired and brain dead to do any writing or thinking by the time I get home. Hopefully I can finally get back on normal schedule again and release chapters on a weekly basis.

I thought I would try to create a love triangle between Asuka, Hikari and Shinji. Try to create some more drama for poor little Shinji. Someone please tell me if I've made Yui too evil, because I would love to hear someone else complain about her. I hope you guys are enjoying what I've put out so far, I would honestly say that I'm about half way done now. Please read and review.


	13. You are not alone

Chapter 13

Shinji's palms were sweating while he was gripping the control yokes to Unit-01. Unit-01 was in the prone position and staring down the scope of the proton particle beam rifle. He was waiting for the operation to start, Rei was in Unit-00 with the shield to protect Unit-01, and Unit-02 was behind shield barriers to provide a distraction for Shinji to take a shot at the Angel that was an octahedron of liquid metal. Shinji had never actually partaken in any sniper training, and the particle bean rifle that he was using had never been tested. Unfortunately, the Magi predicted that this plan had the highest chance of success, but that percentage wasn't very high. Shinji didn't have faith in the plan or himself, but everyone was depending on him.

"Commence operations," Misato gave the command, "Asuka begin the attack."

Asuka immediately popped from her cover and fired a few rounds at the Angel. The Angel transformed to a form to repel the shots fired by Unit-02. After deflecting the shots, it transformed again, opening up to expose its core. The Angel's core charged up and fired Asuka's location, Unit-02 had already relocated and tried to fire at the exposed core. The Angel's AT easily reflected the shots fired by Unit-02. Missile launchers and 50 mm cannons fired hundreds of pounds of ordinance from the surrounding mountain area. The Angel was able to deflect and shoot down everything that came within its perimeter. The Angel fired upon the mountains to destroy the weapons firing upon it. Unit-02 round about the area firing shots when she could, as well as dodging and taking cover from the Angel's devastating blasts. Shinji sat in Unit-01 and waited as the Eva's computer aimed in on the Angel with the beam rifle. The computer finished calculating the shot and locked in on the transforming Angel, the beam rifle was finished charging and Shinji pulled the trigger. A blue beam of light emitted from the rifle flew straight and true, it pierced the Angel's core and blood shot from the back of it.

"We got it!" Misato exclaimed.

Celebrations were too soon. The Angel recovered from the shot, healed itself and transformed to attack Shinji's position. The Angel unleashed a powerful attack that blew away half the mountain that Unit-01 was posted on. Shinji felt as if his skin was burning, he feebly curled up into a ball and held himself while sobbing and shaking.

"Shinji-kun! Are you alright?" Misato said over the com, "The energy system is still functional. We need you to get Unit-01 back into firing position."

"I…I..can't…" Shinji said as his voice was quivering. He had never been so scared in his entire life, he didn't want to die, he didn't want to let them down, and he didn't want them to see him fail.

"Please Shinji-kun, All of Japan's energy is with you," Misato said, "Our future is in your hands, but we are here with you… You are not alone!"

"Right…" Shinji got Unit-01 to crawl to the beam rifle and lifted it up to get into firing position. The energy system began to charge the rifle, while Unit-02 tried to capture the Angel's attention again. It was futile, since the Angel was still locked onto Unit-01. The Angel began charging up for another attack, Unit-00 quickly jumped into position to protect Unit-01. The Angel fired its beam attack at Unit-01 and Unit-00 was in position to block the beam attack. Unit-00's shield and armor were already beginning to melt from the intense heat of the beam. Shinji was panicking.

"Hurry…Hurry up God damn it," Shinji screamed in frustration.

Shinji's hand shook with anxiety and was having a hard time getting the scope centered on the Angel. Shinji suddenly heard Rei scream in pain, and when he looked over he saw that the shield had completely melted and Unit-00 was taking the blunt of the blast. Shinji instinctively pulled the trigger. The beam flew through the massive energy blast from the Angel and cleared away the energy blast and flew towards the Angel. The particle beam grazed the edge of the Angel's exposed core. Unit-00 fell to the ground, curled up and was shaking from the painful burns. The Angel began to charge up for another attack. Another beam was emitted toward their direction and Shinji was suddenly surrounded by pain and white light. When the energy blast dissipated, Shinji's entire body was engulfed in burning pain. He looked around and saw that the mountain that he was on was completely devastated.

"M…Mi…Misato...san…" Shinji said rasping into his com. He didn't receive an answer, only static. "Misato…san… can we… shoot…"

He didn't get any message of confirmation from the command trailer. He looked towards the Angel and saw that the Angel was firing on the city and destroying sections of the city with each blast. Unit-02 was still functional and frantically trying to dodge the different blasts that were being fired upon it. The Angel changed its shape again, a large upside down pyramid hovered over its core, several smaller diamonds hovering around the core, and a smaller pyramid spinning beneath the core. When the Angel was done charging, 10 different beams were emitted in 10 different direction and they began revolving around the Angel's main body. Unit-02 had no chance of dodging, and was instantly sliced in half.

Shinji awoke and sat up from his bed in an instant. He was breathing hard and covered in sweat. Shinji breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that it was only a dream, but his body was still trembling. He sat there and prayed that nothing like that would ever actually happen. Thoughts began racing through his mind and he began to wonder if it was bound to happen, if he was going to eventually fail when they needed him most and everyone would die. Shinji couldn't fall back asleep, so he got up and took a shower to wash away the sweat. It was only 4 a.m. so Shinji stayed up the rest of the night listening to his SDAT player.

* * *

Rei awoke to the smell of breakfast being prepared. When she looked over at her clock, it was only 6:30. Usually Shinji had breakfast ready a little after 7, so that it gave the two teenagers time to eat and get to school by 8. Rei quickly got up and headed to the kitchen to find Shinji fully dressed, breakfast was ready, as well as their bentos.

"What are you doing up so early?" Rei asked.

"Oh….I uh… was restless and I woke up early," Shinji replied.

"Is there something wrong?"

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it," Shinji said to her while trying to smile. "I'm gonna be heading to school to take care of some things. I'll see you at school." Shinji grabbed two of the bentos and headed for the door.

"Shinji-kun…" Rei tried to call to him, but he was already out the door.

Yui walked into the kitchen shortly after the door closed. She was pleasantly surprised to see that breakfast was ready. She happily poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Good morning Rei," Yui said, "Breakfast is ready early today. Where's Shinji?"

"He said he had something to take care of at school and has already left."

Yui's eyes narrowed at Rei's answer. "Did he say what kind of stuff that he needed to take care of?"

"No, he was rather vague and he just left."

"I see…" Yui said, "How have things at school been for you two? Is Asuka making friends at school?"

"School has become very rowdy with the arrival of the Second child," Rei answered, "Sohryu-san has become popular with the other females at school. The boys are growing to despise her due to her condescending attitude towards them. The only exception is Shinji-kun."

"So the only boy that she's friends with is Shinji?"

"Yes Ma'am."

Yui's knuckles became white from squeezing her cup so hard.

* * *

Hikari usually came to school early, before anyone else had a chance to get to school. She would get there long before any of the other students and before some of the teachers. She didn't come to school because she simply had nothing better to do, but she came to study so that she could stay ahead of the curve. It was difficult for her to study at home, there was always something to do, cleaning, cooking, laundry and the list goes on. She wasn't a genius, but she took school very seriously and worked hard to do the best that she could. When Hikari walked into the classroom this morning, she was rather surprised to see someone there before her. It was Shinji, he sat at his desk listening to his SDAT player and staring out the window.

"Ohayo Shinji-kun! What are you doing at school so early in the morning?" Hikari said to his face as she bent over his desk.

Shinji looked startled at the sudden appearance of another student. He pulled out his earphones and responded, "Ohayo Hikari, I just felt like coming to school a little early today."

"Shinji-kun, its 7 o'clock, school doesn't start for another hour. This is more than 'a little early,' is there something wrong?"

"I just had some trouble staying asleep so I came to school early," Shinji said. Hikari looked into his eyes and saw they were bloodshot and there were some rings under his eyes.

"If there is something wrong Shinji, you know that I would do anything I could to help you."

"Thank you Hikari… but I'm fine… really."

"Ok… Shinji-kun," Hikari mumbled to herself. She walked back to her desk feeling a hurt that Shinji of all people would push her way. She had never seen him like this before.

Hikari had trouble focusing on class the rest of the day, and whenever she looked back at Shinji it looked as though he would fall asleep at any moment. She had known Shinji long enough to know that something was really bothering him.

After school Hikari was asked to deliver some papers to a teacher in another building. She delivered the papers and gathered her stuff up to leave. She was heading for the gate to go home when she saw a group of 6 seniors huddled around something. She was about to go over and see what all the fuss was about, but that's when she saw Shinji walking over to them. She stopped and curiously watched the events unfold.

Shinji broke up the group of boys to reveal and smaller boy from their year crying. Shinji began talking to the smaller boy and turned to face the group of seniors. They just laughed at Shinji and the smaller boy, Shinji began talking to them. Hikari couldn't hear what was being said, but one of the seniors stepped forward and tried to punch Shinji. Shinji easily dodged the punch by stepping to the side and kicked the senior in his groin. He dropped, the crying boy ran away, and Shinji took a few steps back to create some space. Shinji kept saying something with a calm face, and the 5 remaining seniors surrounded him. One from behind charged him, Shinji stepped to the side, spun around him, and then kicked him in the back. It sent the senior flying forward and he landed on his face.

The other four seniors stepped up to Shinji to attack. One threw a kick at from his side, but Shinji stepped back and pushed the leg away. Another threw a punch at Shinji, but he was able to block that. Suddenly someone came up from behind Shinji and put him in a bear hug. Shinji tried to fight against it, but the seniors were stronger than him. The senior he kicked in the back had gotten up and started pummeling Shinji. The other seniors were getting their licks in when and where they could. Shinji suddenly jumped up and kicked one of the seniors in the face, and head butted the one that was holding him from behind. The senior let Shinji go to grab his bloody nose.

Shinji took this time to charge the two remaining seniors, and he jumped throwing a knee into one of their faces. When Shinji landed the other senior punched him in the face. Shinji kicked the final senior in the side of his knee and threw an uppercut in his face. The young teenager then assumed to pummel the helpless senior into the ground. Hikari ran to Shinji and grabbed his arm to keep him from beating the other boy to death.

"Shinji-kun stop it! You're going to kill him," Hikari said trying to calm Shinji down.

Shinji's eyes burned with rage with animosity for the boy on the ground. Slowly sense came back to his eyes and he looked around at what he had done. The boy in front of him was bloody and barely recognizable, and the other students were lying on the floor hurt and in need of medical attention. NSI would probably be along in a little bit to clean up after Shinji.

Hikari's hand reached up and touched some blood on Shinji's face. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up," Hikari said. She wrapped Shinji's arm around her shoulders and walked him to the nurse's office. The walk to the nurse's office was in silence, Hikari didn't know what to say to Shinji after having witnessed the fight. Shinji was an Eva pilot, but Hikari had never considered the fact that Shinji knew how to fight.

Since it was the end of the day the nurse's office was empty, the school nurse had already left for the day. Hikari led Shinji to an empty bed and had him sit down while she got some clean towels, anti-septic, and band-aids. Hikari quickly got to work cleaning Shinji off, sterilizing his wounds and patching him up. Shinji was beat up pretty badly but still looked better than the seniors had looked.

"Shinji-kun, what's with you today?" Hikari asked, "You've been acting strange all day. Let me help you."

Shinji looked over at Hikari with dull eyes. "There's nothing that you could do Hikari… I need to be stronger so that I can protect everyone."

"Shinji-kun… you know… you don't have to face anything alone, Asuka can help you fight against the Angels, and I can help you fight against the loneliness," Hikari said with a strong voice, but her tears were beginning to swell up in her eyes. She leaned over and hugged him.

Shinji smiled. "Thanks Hikari," Shinji said, "You're a great friend."

Hikari heard his words and it hurt her that he still pushed her away. What did she have to do to make him open up to her?

Shinji's small cuts and bruises had already healed after a couple days, but he had been having that same dream every night, and the dream played out the exact same way every night. Every single detail of the dream had become burned into his head and he hadn't had a good night's rest since. He was growing into the habit of waking up early and going to school by himself so that he could avoid Rei and his mother. It was beginning to take a toll on his mind and his body. Shinji was letting the dream affect him in everything he did, even his training.

* * *

Today Shinji and Asuka were sparring against Souske and a woman from Mithril named Melissa Mao, she was Souske's superior. She was visiting to inspect how Souske was training the Eva pilots, and since she was here, Souske asked her to help with their training. They were doing a tag team exercise, only one person from each team were allowed to be on the mat, except when calling for a tag. When you called for a tag, the other team member was allowed to jump and the other member had to leave the mat. The call for a tag was clapping your hands together, if you couldn't clap your hands together than you couldn't call for a tag. Each team member was allowed to call for a tag only twice during the match, but whoever gets knocked out or taps, that team loses the match. Asuka and Souske were the first two to start off on the mat.

Asuka and Souske circled each other on the mat, Asuka knew that she was outmatched so she carefully studied Souske's movements and waited. Souske commended Asuka for not acting as she normally would, of simply rushing the enemy and throwing out everything she had to defeat her opponent. Since she was going defensive and waiting for him to strike, Souske made the first move. He rushed in and threw two quick jabs with his left and followed with a right knee. Asuka dodged the first jab, blocked the second and sidestepped the knee. Souske followed Asuka's movements and tried to backhanding her with his right. Asuka ducked below Souske's swing and dived into his stomach with an elbow and jumped up while grabbing his shoulders to pull herself up. She tried to finish the fight by driving her knee into his face, but when Souske took the hit from the elbow, his arms moved up to block his face from the flying knee. Souske stepped back and he was hurting from the series of attacks, but he was still able to recover.

Asuka eagerly went after Souske, thinking that she could end the fight without having to tag Shinji in. Asuka pressed her attack by pummeling his guard with kicks and punches as she tried to find an opening. Souske took a few of the beginning strikes, but he slowly started to recover and began blocking each of Asuka's attacks. Not wanting to lose her opportunity, she pushed harder, swinging wider and not concerning herself with her guard. Souske deflected and sidestepped a wide punch that Asuka threw, and he suddenly had his opening. He started off by returning the favor and kneeing her in the stomach, throwing an elbow at her face, an uppercut to her chin then used the space created from the uppercut to kick her in the chest. Asuka flew backwards and landed on her back. She used the momentum to do a back roll and get back on her feet. She was hurting, but she was still able to stand. Souske rushed her to finish her off. Asuka steadied herself and waited for Souske's charge. Souske stepped and threw a high-kick that Asuka was able to easily dodge the kick and grabbed a punch that Souske threw. Asuka grabbed Souske's arm and flipped her body around to create momentum to throw Souske on his back. As soon as she had Souske on his back, she clapped her hands and rolled away and made her way off the mat to recover from some of her injuries. At least she had given a Shinji an opening to take advantage of.

Shinji jumped onto the mat with his knee out and landed on Souske's chest. Shinji pounced on Souske and got him into a submission hold. He tried to make sure that his hands couldn't clap, but Souske edged his hands together and managed a soft clap. Mao came out and Shinji was forced to release Souske in order to deal with the new threat. He had no idea what this woman was capable of, but if she was Souske's superior, than she must be a bad ass.

Shinji rushed her and attacked her with a series of light fast attacks. Jabs and kicks with quick snaps, he didn't care if the attacks were too weak to do any damage if they connected. Shinji only wanted to find out what her reaction time was. Mao-san was able to block the attacks that went for vital spots, but most of them got past her defense. Shinji backed up and gave himself some room and prepared to attack at full force. Shinji stepped in and began to attack. He believed that he was fast enough to have an advantage over this woman. Once he started to attack her, all of his feints were ignored and his attacks meant to hurt her were blocked. It suddenly dawned on Shinji that Mao had been leading him into a false sense of comfort the entire time.

Shinji tried to step back from Mao, but she didn't let him have room. Mao attacked Shinji relentlessly, but to her surprise Shinji was able to block a majority of her attacks and retain minimal damage. Mao sidestepped and swung at his kidney that was exposed, but Shinji had enough time to react and blocked her attack. Mao kept sidestepping him to attack him from the side, and Shinji kept turning to face her and prevented any serious damage from being done. Mao sidestepped Shinji again, but she didn't attack him, Mao clapped her hands to call in Souske. Shinji had lost his sense of direction because Mao had been spinning him in circles. He didn't see Souske and he didn't know where he was coming from. Shinji frantically spun around looking for Souske, but it was already too late. Souske had a round house kick coming straight for Shinji, and there was no time to block or dodge it. Shinji took the hit directly to his stomach and he flew back. He didn't get knocked out, and he had enough energy to call in Asuka, but he didn't. Shinji got up slowly and tried to assume a fighting stance.

"What the hell are you doing Baka?" Asuka screamed from the sideline, "Tag me in!"

"I've got this Asuka!" Shinji screamed back in frustration.

The teenager suddenly charged the Sergeant and tried to desperately pull something out of his ass. Shinji jumped at Souske with a jumping roundhouse followed by a backspin kick. Souske dodged both attacks easily, and before Shinji could stabilize his landing, Souske grabbed his legs and lifted them up so that Shinji's was floating a couple of feet above the ground. Souske slammed him into the ground with a monstrous suplex. Shinji landed on his back and got the entire wind knock out of his lungs. He lay on the ground in pain and trouble breathing. The match was over.

"So Shinji, did you really think that you had a chance of beating me and the Sergeant Major by yourself?" Souske asked, his tone was filled with frustration, "You defeat one Angel, beat up some high school punks and now you think that you don't need any sort of help. Do you mean to tell me that I've wasted my time here?"

"I have to be stronger than I am now!" Shinji retorted, "If anyone were to get hurt because I wasn't strong enough to fulfill my role than I don't know what I would do… I can't let Asuka or Rei be burden by my deficiencies."

Souske took a long look at Shinji before he spoke, "We're done for the day. I'll see both of you next week."

Both pilots left the training area. Asuka left the training room steaming mad, and Shinji followed meekly.

"The kid is strong, but he's going to get someone killed if he keeps going on with that mind set. He needs to learn his own self-worth." Mao said when both pilots were out of hearing range.

"You're right, but that is also one his strengths," Souske said, "He will keep pushing himself past his own physical and mental limits. And he will pull through the greatest challenges alone when we most need him to.

* * *

Shinji, Yui, and Rei all stood in front of a single grave stone that read the name Gendo Ikari. Shinji didn't remember anything about his father, he was around three or four years old when he had mysteriously disappeared in Unit-01. Shinji had seen many pictures of his father, and he was an intimidating looking man. But in the pictures of his mother and father together, he actually looked genuinely happy. He wished that he had gotten the chance to know the man that his mother had fallen in love with and bore his son. Shinji was always told that his father was an intelligent, confident, strong leader. He was the director of the Eva project before he had disappeared. Shinji wished that his father was still around so that he could've learned to be someone that everyone could depend on. He didn't regret that his mother had raised him by herself, she had done an outstanding job, but there were just those minor things about himself that he wished he could change.

"He would be so proud of you if he saw you right now," Yui said proudly.

Shinji didn't respond to his mother's statement, the dream of Shinji failing to kill the Angel kept replaying in his mind. Shinji could only stare at his father's grave and wonder if his mother's statement would've been true if his father was still alive.

"I don't know if he would be proud of how I am right now Mother," Shinji said in a low voice, "But I promise that someday I will be a man that he will be proud of."

"Shinji…" Yui said, "What has been going on with you? Why are you suddenly so protective of everyone? You can't bear this responsibility alone. There are people to help you, support you, fight with you..."

"What I _need_ is for the people that I care about to stay safe and alive."

Rei suddenly turned around and slapped him in the face. Her face was flushed red with anger and she had tears in her eyes that she was desperately trying to hold back.

"Do you think that we don't feel the same for you? It hurts us just as much to watch you go into battle and wonder if you will come back alive this time," Rei said in a stern voice. "You cannot block us out and expect to save the world by yourself! We don't need you to fight!"

Shinji was completely shocked by what he heard. He had never even considered how others felt about him risking his life. He had become focused only on how he felt about other people being in danger. He had been hurt when he learned of all the casualties during the first battle, devastated when he learned that Kensuke had been one of those casualties, and when Rei had been put in the hospital after her fight with the Angel, Shinji felt as though he had failed. Having that same dream play over every night had only made him realize his doubts, deficiencies and fears.

"I'm…sorry… " Shinji said, "I need some time alone to think. I'll see you both back at home."

* * *

Shinji mindlessly wandered from the graveyard and eventually made his way to the school. Shinji hadn't intended to come to the school, but since he was here he decided to walk around the campus. Shinji just simply roamed the campus as he contemplated about the surge of thoughts and doubts that flooded his mind. The last few days had been very long for Shinji. He eventually made his way to the top of the stairs that lead to the school's sports field. Shinji sat at the top of the stairs and gazed over the field. Shinji didn't hear any footsteps, but he noticed the appearance of a shadow that shaded him from the sun. Shinji turned around to see his homeroom teacher standing before him with gardening tools in hand.

"Yo! What are you doing here on a Sunday Shinji-kun?" Ryoji-sensei asked him.

"N…N…N…Nothing… I just kinda ended up here sensei. Am I not allowed to be here?" Shinji stuttered.

"I don't know myself. I just noticed you sitting here, so I was just curious what you were up to."

"Ok… Ummm… If you don't mind my asking, but what are you doing here on a Sunday Sensei?"

"We're not in class Shinji-kun, you don't have to call me 'Sensei' all the time. Call me Kaji when we're not in class ok?"

"Ok… Kaji-san…"

Ryoji-sensei gave Shinji a smirk and said, "Come with me and let me show you why I'm here."

Shinji followed Kaji past the sports field and towards the sports equipment shed. They went past the shed and into the brush. They came upon a small open patch, and there the ground was cultivated to provide life. Shinji was surprised to see the small garden, when he took a closer look and noticed that they were watermelon plants.

"I started growing these babies about a week after I got here. I love gardening, but I can't grow much at my apartment."

"Really? You don't seem like the type Sen… Kaji-san."

Kaji grinned at Shinji's discomfort with talking to him so casually. "Well there is something great in being able to watch something grow and develop. It gives you a lot of different perspectives on how life works." Kaji said as he tended to his watermelons.

"Like what?" Shinji asked curiously.

"Well… These watermelons could never become what they're supposed to be without lots of help. They need water and sunlight, I need to come out here every now and then to pull out weeds and help tend to them. The watermelons will drown if they get too much water or die if they get too little. If the sun gets too hot and evaporates all the water, then I have to make sure to give them more water. People are very similar, you can't expect a person to grow up properly if they stand alone and don't get any help from other people. Who we are is an accumulation of experiences and interactions with other people. The different experiences we share with family, friends, or even enemies shape what kind of a person we will grow into. No one could ever hope to get through life alone. Everyone needs to receive a little bit of help along the way."

Shinji had never thought of it that way. While he was growing up with his mother and Rei, it was always Shinji that would provide help for them. He was always a very independent individual that didn't need much help with anything, and he wasn't accustomed to receiving help from other people. Shinji had never wanted to bother other people with his problems, and he didn't think that they wanted to have anything to do with them anyways. But after hearing what Kaji just said, it occurred to him that he did have people that were willing to help him, people that wanted to help him through his problems. He was not alone.

Suddenly Kaji's cell phone began to ring. Kaji quickly answered it, "This is Kaji. Yes. Yes. I'll bring him over right away." Kaji hung up his phone and turned to Shinji, "They've discovered an Angel, and we need to head to Nerv right now."

"What? Why is Nerv calling you Kaji-san?"

"Because I work for Nerv. I'm part of Nerv Security Intelligence," Kaji said, "I'll explain to you on the way Shinji-kun, but we need to leave right now."


	14. Understanding

Chapter 14

"This operation's primary mission is to capture the Angel while it is still in its embryo form," Ritsuoko explained.

"And what if we're unable to capture it?" Asuka asked.

"Then you are to destroy the target," Ritsuoko said.

"The designated pilot for this operation will be…"

"I'll do it," Shinji cut off Ritsuoko before she had a chance to finish.

"Unit-01 is incompatible with the D-type equipment that we'll be using for this operation," Ritsuoko explained. She sounded quite irked from being rudely interrupted, "Asuka will be diving into the volcano with Unit-02."

"Too bad Third," Asuka gloated, "You've outlived your usefulness. Now it's time for me and my Unit-02 to shine."

"Unit-01 will be back-up at the mouth of the volcano in case Unit-02 is fails in capturing the target and the Angel tries to flee the volcano. Unit-00 will be on standby here at Nerv."

"The A-17 has been ordered, and we must scramble immediately."

* * *

Shinji was not happy with the fact that Asuka was the one who in the volcano. He felt worthless standing safely outside the volcano while Asuka was in the volcano trying to capture the Angel. Shinji waited impatiently at the top of the volcano waiting for Asuka to come up. Time just ticked by ever so slowly, Unit-01 was able watch the depth that Unit-02 had already dove, and every time Shinji checked Unit-02 hadn't even gone down 100 meters.

"Unit-02 has reached maximum safety depth," Maya reported, "Depth is 1300 meters, estimated target depth."

"Maintain descent," Misato ordered.

"You can't be serious?" Shinji said appalled, "Letting her going any deeper is too dangerous!"

"I'm fine baka," Asuka said angrily, "I can go a little deeper."

"That's my girl," Misato said, "When we're done here, then we can hit up the hot spring."

"Depth is 1700 meters!" Maya said, "Coolant line 2 has cracked from heat and pressure."

"I see it!" Asuka exclaimed, "Moving in for capture. Capture successful."

"Nice job Asuka," Misato complimented, "We're going to start pulling you out."

Shinji sighed in relief that the capture had gone smoothly. "Asuka are you alright?" Shinji asked.

"Of course I'm alright. Who do you think I am?" Asuka boasted, "This was an easy assignment."

He sat in Unit-01 watching them pull Unit-02 out of the volcano. Suddenly the alarms sounded and red lights began to flash around Shinji.

"What's going on?" Asuka said as she sounded slightly panicked, "Shit I lost my prog knife."

"The embryo has started to hatch," Ritsuoko stated, "Asuka, get rid of the cage!"

"Destroying the Angel is now our top priority," Misato commanded, "Shinji throw Asuka your progressive knife."

"Roger," Shinji said. Unit-01 pulled out its prog knife and threw it down to Unit-02.

"Got it," Asuka said, "Thanks Shinji."

Shinji was sweating bullets. There was nothing more that he could do to help Asuka. He sat by as the battle unfold and prayed that Asuka would be able to pull through and come out of this alive. Shinji's heart jumped when Misato and Asuka hatched the insane plan of thermal expansion to defeat the Angel. Shinji watched with joy as they pumped coolant down into the Angel's mouth, causing it to die. Suddenly the Angel reached up and destroyed the coolant tubes that kept Unit-02's D-type suit pressurized and cool. Shinji watched in horror as Unit-02 hung by a thread that wouldn't be able to support her Eva's weight for long.

Shinji was now panicking himself. The small strand of tubing that was holding Unit-02 wouldn't last the trip to the surface. There was nothing that he could do to save her. He should be the one down in the volcano who was about to be dropped to the abyss, not Asuka. Shinji suddenly thought of a great idea. He wasn't sure if it was going to work, but it was the only thing that he could think of. Shinji willed Unit-01 to move so that he could save Asuka, but Unit-01 resisted. Shinji suddenly became angry, angrier than he had ever been with Unit-01. He didn't exert his control over Unit-01 out of fear, but out of anger and desperation to save Asuka.

"Unit-01's synch ratio has jumped to over 120%!" Maya stated.

"What? Shinji what's going?" Misato said frantically.

"Unit-01's AT field has is at maximum output," Maya reported, and she was in awe as she watched the AT field change shape on her monitor. "The AT field... It's condensing... Unit-01 has AT field at full power but is no thicker than 3 centimeters. He's wrapped it around the entire body of Unit-01."

And with Unit-01's AT field tightly wrapped around itself, Unit-01 jumped into the volcano head first.

"SHINJI!" Yui screamed through the com.

Shinji could feel the heat from the lava seeping through the AT field, and he was already sweating from the intense heat. Unit-01 cut through the lava and made its way toward Unit-02. Unit-02's final bit of cable snapped and began to descend into the depths of the volcano. The purple Eva was just barely able to reach Unit-02's thrashed cable and grab hold of it and then grab onto the cable being pulled by the crane. Unit-01 held onto both ends tightly, not wanting to let Asuka or himself be lost the fiery pit.

"Shinji?" Asuka said over the com, "Hmph… Show off." Even though she sounded like she was blowing him off, her voice betrayed the slightest bit gratitude. Both Eva's were eventually pulled out of the volcano and safely put on the ground.

Shinji was the first one out of his plug, it was taking them a little longer to get Asuka out of Unit-02 since they had to remove some of the D-type equipment to get to her plug. He was rather pleased with himself for having saved Asuka. When he turned around, he saw Yui, Misato and Ritsuoko approaching him. Shinji expected congratulations for his heroic deed and he was about to greet them as they got closer, but as soon as he was within arm's reach Yui slapped him in the face hard. Shinji touched his stinging face where his mother's hand was imprinted on his cheek. He was lost for words.

"You stupid fucking brat!" Yui screamed, "What the hell were you thinking jumping into a volcano! You're lucky that you aren't dead!"

"If I hadn't jumped in then Asuka would be dead right now!" Shinji hollered back, "Do you just not care about her safety?"

Yui was in tears. "I care about her well being just as much as I care about yours Shinji. But do you really think it was better that you risked the chance of having both of you dead?"

Shinji then realized that he had acted without thinking again and it had caused other's to be hurt by it. At the time he was more worried about helping Asuka than thinking about his own safety.

"You did a good job Shinji…" Misato said as she put her hand on his shoulder, "But please think about your own well being before doing something stupid." And the three women left to prepare for the debriefing of the pilots.

* * *

"Unit-01 was able to withstand the severe environmental situation of the volcano without any type of protective equipment? That is wonderful!" Obelisk 1 said.

"What is the damage to Unit-01 and what injuries did the pilot sustain?" Obelisk 5 asked.

"Unit-01 took minimal damage, repairs are already underway and should be completed within a week," Fuyutski reported, "The pilot was unharmed during the operation."

"So it's true that he was able to exceed 100% synchronization without going berserk?" Obelisk 5 asked.

"Yes, during Unit-01's time in the volcano the pilot reached 148%," Yui told the council.

"Magnificent. Such is the power for the host of God." Obelisk 1 complimented

"It is quite fortunate that Unit-01 was able to save Unit-02, but don't you think that it was rather reckless of the pilot?" Obelisk 2 said.

"I must agree that it was an unnecessary risk. As long as we have Unit-01, the other Evas are expendable." Obelisk 7 mused.

"Regardless, the Angel was defeated, Unit-02 was saved, and we have learned more of what Unit-01 is truly capable of. The mission was a success, and we have much to be grateful for." Obelisk 5 said.

"Until we reach the final scenario where third impact can be initiated, I think it wise to not push Unit-01 to such limits. Ikari, you will educate your son to not act so foolishly in the future," Obelisk 9 commanded.

"Yes sir, I will insure that my son never does anything so foolish ever again." Yui told the council.

"This meeting is adjourned," Obelisk 1 announced. All the obelisks began to disappear one at a time leaving Fuyutski and Yui surrounded by darkness.

"He must truly love her if he was willing to jump into a volcano for her sake," Fuyutski mused at Shinji's actions.

"He is only a 16 year old boy. He doesn't understand what love is, he's a hormonal teenager who is confusing lust with love," Yui spat.

"I never went to such extremes for a woman that I wanted to bed," Fuyutski mumbled to himself.

* * *

Shinji sat on a bench in front of some vending machines at Nerv listening to his SDAT player. He was contemplating about what his mother had said to him earlier. It wasn't so much her words that hurt him, but the look in her eyes that got to him, she was hurt by his actions. Shinji didn't have time to think about the consequences of his actions when Asuka didn't have a whole lot of time on her hands. If he had tried telling them about his plan, then he wouldn't have made it in time to save her. Shinji sighed as he leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. Shinji suddenly saw Kaji-san's head hanging right in front of him looking down at him. Shinji freaked out at the adult's face sitting right in front of him and jumped forward. Their foreheads ended up colliding in the process.

"Kaji-san! What the hell are you doing here?" Shinji said while grabbing his aching forehead.

"I work here remember!" Kaji replied who was also holding his forehead.

Shinji had forgotten that Kaji had explained his job to Shinji on the way to Nerv. Kaji is part of the Nerv's Security Intelligence group, and his assignment was to keep track of Shinji, Asuka and Rei under the guise of a teacher while they were at school.

"You look like something is bothering you again," Kaji said.

"I made my mother cry during the operation," Shinji said sounding ashamed.

"Ah… I heard about you jumping into the volcano to save Asuka," Kaji said as he lit up a cigarette and took a deep puff. "Asuka's panties are probably all wet for you. You did a good job Shinji," Kaji said with a grin on his face.

"Then why are so many people so upset about me having saved Asuka? I thought everyone would be happy that she was safe!"

"Adults are complicated Shinji. Everyone is happy that you saved Asuka, but they're upset that you did something brash. But don't let what your mother said to you get you down."

"Why is that?"

"Dr. Ikari is your mother before anything else, so she is going to think of you as her son rather than a pilot and understanding what it is that you risk your life for. As foolish as it was, you did the right thing jumping in there to save Asuka and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You're the one who sits in the cockpit and risks your life to fight the Angels. Dr. Ikari is a scientist, she can't see and understand everything you do. When you see an opportunity you have to grab it with your own hands. That is what men do."

* * *

Asuka was soaking in the hot spring reviewing what had happened during the mission. The baka had actually jumped into the volcano to save her. He didn't have any type of protective equipment, but he was able to survive the volcano's lava. As she thought about what had happened today, she started thinking about why everyone around her was so infatuated with Shinji. Was it because he was like this that everyone adored him so much? Asuka grabbed her hair and released a scream of frustration.

Asuka tried to wrap her mind around what was going through Shinji's head when he decided to jump into the volcano to save her. No one had ever done anything to help her. Most people looked at Asuka with jealousy and contempt because she was usually smarter or prettier than they were. She had been superior to all of her peers at everything since she was a child, but ever since she met Shinji, it was the first time she had anything close to a rival and an equal. Asuka had been annoyed that Shinji's synch scores were better than hers, and she looked at Shinji with jealousy, because she was no longer the best. Shinji didn't look at her with jealousy, but with respect.

"You look like you're in deep thought," Misato said. She was holding a beer and she came over and sat down next to Asuka.

"Huh?" Asuka said as she looked over at Misato. Asuka didn't even realize that Misato had sat down next to her. "I was just thinking about stuff."

"Oh? Was Asuka thinking about boys?" Misato teased, "Maybe a boy who saved her life?"

Asuka blushed at the truth of Misato's words. "Is that Baka always so reckless and impulsive?" Asuka asked.

"Baka? Oh you mean Shinji," Misato mused and chuckled to herself, "Yeah I guess you could say that he's always been like that. Always thinking about others before himself."

"So he's that way with everyone…" Asuka said in a low voice, "I'm not special…"

"Asuka... Shinji has never been a popular kid," Misato said, "He has a very small circle of people who are very important to him. And never have I seen anyone get into that circle as quickly as you have."

Asuka sat there for a moment and thought about it. It was true that even though they had started out rough, the two pilots were able to get along even when they first met each other. She didn't understand how she had even made friends with Shinji. She had always been alone and looked out for herself, but now she was someone special to Shinji? She scratched her head in frustration and let out a huge sigh.

"Misato," Asuka said, "You know about my past don't you?"

"Of course," Misato said, "its part of my job."

"So why would Shinji save someone as broken as me?"

"Shinji has been alone for the most part. His mother loves him very much, but she's always been busy with work and has never been a real mother to him. Shinji has gone through life trying to not be a burden to anyone around him, and that has made him close up and unable to confide in others."

"What about Rei? They grew up together didn't they?"

"Shinji sees Rei as a younger sister. You've talked to Rei and have noticed that she's a bit odd. Shinji has looked after and taken care of Rei his entire life, someone he needs to protect. You are the only person that he doesn't have to worry about protecting. You are the only one who can really understand what it is going through his brain whenever he climbs into Eva."

The young teenager tried to understand the depth of Misato's words. Was she the only one who could see the world as he saw it? Was she the only one that Shinji could actually depend on? Could she actually depend on him when she needed it? Would he abandon her like her mother did? Questions flooded Asuka's mind and she didn't know what to make of them.

"Is little Asuka-chan falling for Shin-chan?" Misato teased to break the silence.

Asuka blushed slightly and then quickly stood up. "Who cares about that Baka anyways?" Asuka said as she stormed out of the bath. When Asuka got to the changing room, she stopped and leaned her back against the wall and tilted her head back to look up at the ceiling. She raised a shaking hand to her chest and felt her heart pounding in over drive. She was scared, she didn't understand what she was feeling for Shinji, but she liked the unfamiliar feeling.

* * *

The magi held the most powerful firewalls that Kaji had ever encountered. He was able to uncover a great deal of information about several of Nerv's dummy corporations, but he hadn't gotten anywhere with cracking the Magi. There were layers upon layers of defense between each of the security clearances, and he had spent a good deal of his time ensuring that no one was able to trace his movements through the Magi. He had decided that it was time to try talking directly to the Magi, Dr. Akagi Naoko.

Kaji plugged in his laptop directly into the Magi main frame and tried to directly interface with the AI. Kaji tried specifically speaking to Melchoir, the scientist aspect of Akagi Naoko. Melchoir would be the most unbiased of the three and be able to provide the most information.

Kaji typed into the computer, 'Hello Dr. Akagi.'

'Hello Kaji Ryoji.'

Kaji was rather surprised that she knew his name, but thought that he could play it off. 'What makes you think I'm Ryoji-san?'

'I accessed Nerv, Seele, and UN files and found that all three organizations have hired you for the purpose of spying on the other. The only other person who would access my AI directly would be my daughter, but she doesn't refer to me as Dr. Akagi. Your attempt to deny your identity only confirms my theory. If you had accepted it then it would be possible to say that the spy would just pretend to be you in order to pin you as a scapegoat.'

Kaji was impressed at the AI's insight, but it also irritated him that his identity was leaked. He doubted that there would be any way for him to delete the AI's memory of this.

'Don't worry I don't intend to reveal your identity,' Naoko said, 'Any information that I do reveal to you will be because it doesn't matter that you know or I choose for you to know.'

Kaji breathed a sigh of relief. 'That is a relief to know doctor. So what is the Human Instrumentality Project? And what are Ikari's and Seele's goals?'

'The Human Instrumentality Project is man's attempt to create God. As far as what Ikari's and Seele's plans are, I can only speculate at the possibilities.'

Create God? The idea completely baffled Kaji, it had to be metaphoric for something else. Humans couldn't create God. 'How can humans create God?' Kaji typed.

'The idea of God was created by humans in the first place. Ancient Catholic and Christian beliefs were founded on men trying to control the masses. Instead of an iconic God though, Seele discovered a way to create God through science.'

'How is that possible?'

'Through a contract with Lilith and the guidance of the Dead Sea Scrolls.'

Kaji stared at the words with disbelief. 'Was it Seele who made the contract with Lilith?'

'Who else would have? It was Seele who funded Gehrin's research of Project-E, it is Seele who formed Nerv to battle the Angels. It is Seele who guides the world's actions from the shadows.'

'What does the contract entail?'

'The offspring of Lilith and Adam must fight the 12 Angels of the trials. The host of God will awaken and realize its powers through the trials and unite with the first and the last to become the all mighty. Lilith will welcome his entrance with a feast of souls.'

_The offspring of Lilith and Adam_, could that possibly be the Evas? But what about the host of God? Kaji found Dr. Akagi's words to be riddles, but he didn't expect to get any straight answers anyways.

'Can you tell me what the Dead Sea Scrolls say?'

'That I cannot tell you. You are an intelligent man Kaji-san. It is quite possible that you will decipher the true meaning of the scrolls and interfere with the Trial.'

'Why would you let something like this happen? Why would you allow Seele to possess the power of God?'

'Seele does not fully understand the contract or the scriptures. They believe that they will have the power of God to control, but that is close to impossible. I allow this to happen because I am a scientist Ryoji-san, and the events that are taking place are scientific marvels. I am recording everything that is taking place and will safely store them within myself for when the world emerges from Third Impact.'

'So Third Impact cannot be stopped?'

'Third Impact was guaranteed to happen once the contract with Lilith was signed.'

* * *

A/N: I know that the part with the volcano played out almost exactly like the anime, but I wanted it to be played out from Shinji's perspective instead of Asuka's. I hope the rest of the chapter wasn't too cheesy for you guys, but I'm a sucker for the deep touching moments.

The contract with Lilith is a prophecy of how I intend to play out third impact. I don't know if I did a good job of making it obscure enough, please let me know what you guys think it means so I have an idea if I did a good job or not.


	15. Respect

Chapter 15

Two weeks have passed since the incident at the volcano and Shinji's world was falling apart around him. His mother had suddenly taken an annoying interest in his schedule. She began to supervise the training sessions with Souske and Asuka, all the harmonics and synch tests were performed by her personally, anything that Shinji took part in she had a finger in it. Asuka had suddenly become even more hostile towards him since the volcano incident. She would become flustered with him at the slightest things that he did and wouldn't let him get within an arms distance of her without her freaking out. Touji, Kaji-san and Misato were all busy with their own agendas that they didn't have time to talk to him about anything.

Hikari was always available to talk to Shinji though. In the last week he opened up to her about all the different things that had been bothering him. He told her about what had happened at the volcano, how he had jumped in to save Asuka, his mother flipping out at his recklessness, Asuka keeping her distance from Shinji. Hikari was the only person that he could turn to help him get through the weeks. The two teenagers had been spending a lot of time with each other.

"… and Asuka decides that she's fed up with waiting and walks out of the decontamination area without her clothes. Kaji-san happens to show up while Asuka is leaving and sees her naked, I've never heard Asuka scream so loud and run so fast." Shinji told to Hikari as he chuckled to himself.

"Hahaha… Poor Asuka… Hahaha..." Hikari said while trying to hold back her tears.

"Yeah she didn't come out of the locker room for at least 2 hours."

The two teenagers were enjoying their lunch together. Touji was at his basketball club practice during lunch because a tournament was coming up. Rei like to go to the library at lunch to read and Asuka was off on her own because she would get annoyed at being around Shinji. Asuka told Hikari to go to Shinji and talk to him. Asuka told her that she wouldn't be able to help Shinji the same way Hikari would be able to help him.

"Is your mom still upset with you?" Hikari asked.

"She's cooled down a lot," Shinji explained, "After 2 weeks of haggling me, now all of her duties are starting to catch up with her. I've tried talking to her but it gets us nowhere. Have you been able to figure out what Asuka's deal is?"

Hikari already had an idea of what it might be, but she still needed to confirm it and she didn't want Shinji to know the truth of it. "No idea," Hikari said nonchalantly, "I've tried talking to her about it, but she just keeps changing the subject on me."

Shinji sighed. "I don't understand women," Shinji groaned, "Why must your species be so complicated?"

Hikari giggled to herself. "Well it's not our fault that boys are too stupid to understand us. But I guess that can't be helped since we are mentally superior," Hikari gloated.

Shinji wanted to retaliate, but when he thought about it, all of the smart people that he knew where women. His mother was the lead scientist in charge of Project-E, Dr. Akagi was in charge of the Magi and Eva maintenance, and Misato was the operations director. Asuka, Rei and Hikari all had better grades than himself. He tried to think of who he knew who could represent the men, Commander Fuyutski and Kaji-san came to mind, but Kaji-san was lazy and it was hard to tell if he was really smart of just bullshitting. Commander Fuyutski always seemed to be in control, but that didn't mean he was smart. Shinji sighed in defeat and waved the white flag in tears.

Hikari giggled again and patted Shinji on the head, "It's ok Shinji-kun, I still love you even though you're an idiot." Hikari's heart froze at the statement she had just made. She looked over at Shinji, but he didn't seem to realize exactly what it was that she had said. Hikari sighed to herself. Shinji-kun really was an idiot.

* * *

Asuka was at Nerv's training facilities beating up on a punching bag. She didn't like being stuck at home alone with her thoughts, so she came to Nerv to get some exercise. Asuka heard the door open and saw that it was Misato. Asuka grabbed her towel and a water bottle then leaned against the punching bag as she drank down the water and wiped off her sweat.

"It's strange to see you here when there are no tests or training going on," Misato said.

"I didn't feel like sitting at home by myself," Asuka said after taking a swig of her water bottle.

"I see," Misato said while looking up and walking over to the teenage girl. "What about Hikari?" Misato asked looking directly at Asuka.

Asuka face soured. "She's hanging out with Shinji."

Misato shrugged. "So? Why don't the three of you hang out together?"

"Hikari has a thing for Shinji, and I didn't want to get in her way by being a third wheel."

Misato looked Asuka with a skeptical look that didn't buy Asuka's explanation. "I'm surprised that you would allow your best friend to date someone like Shinji. I'm sure that she would be able to find someone much better," Misato said and looked at Asuka hoping to get the reaction she wanted. But she was disappointed when Asuka just shrugged it off.

"It's none of my business," Asuka said as she gathered up her things to leave. "Hikari can date whoever she likes."

Misato sighed to herself and blocked the door way out of the gym. "Asuka, I know that you've been alone your entire life and you haven't connected with anyone since your mother passed away. Just because you've made it this far in life alone doesn't mean that you can go the rest of your life alone."

Asuka started to laugh at Misato's comment. "What do you know about being alone Misato? My mother tried to get me to commit suicide with her, but I was lucky that she got me confused with some doll. I loved her, but after that I didn't know if I should hate her or if I could still even love her as my mother."

"I know more than you think Asuka," Misato said with a smile but sad eyes, "My father, was a scientist who was devoted to his work. I hated him for that. He would always leave me and my mother to go on research trips, and my mom would always cry. Finally my mother got tired of him and divorced him. I was happy because I thought that he deserved it. I was with him in Antarctica when Second Impact happened. He sacrificed himself so that he could save me. I didn't know whether to love him or hate him too. That is why I joined Nerv, so that I could get revenge against the Angels for my father."

Asuka was speechless. In all the years she had known Misato, she had never heard that story from her. "I'm sorry Misato…" Asuka mumbled, "I didn't know…"

"It's in the past Asuka," Misato said, "I'm just saying that you can depend on Shinji to be a friend when you need one."

* * *

Yui was at home cooking dinner. She usually didn't have time to cook dinner for her family, and she should've been at the Geo Front working down the mountain of work she had building up. But she was too stricken with grief and concern for her son to be able to focus on her work. She didn't realize how far he had become. He had always been the good son for so long over the years that it didn't occur to her that she wasn't around as a mother enough for him. She needed to make more of an effort to be around for him and play her part as a mother. Yui wanted to be there for Shinji and Rei, but work would not allow for her to be there for them. She heard the door close signaling that the kids had gotten back from school. Shinji and Rei walked into the kitchen curious what the source of the smell was, and they were surprised to see his mother at the stove.

"Tadaima," Rei said formally.

"Okaerinasai," Yui responded.

"Mom, you finished with work early today?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah, I got done a little early today and I thought that it would be nice if we all had dinner together," Yui said.

"Ok… I'll go put my stuff away and change real quick and give you a hand."

"I've got everything in here. You can watch some TV until I'm done. I'll let you and Rei know when dinner is ready." Yui told Shinji with a smile.

"Ok…" Shinji said and quietly left for his room.

Yui got dinner ready in a timely manner and had the table set for them eat. Rei came to the table with her usual stoic presence, and Shinji sat down at the table with an awkward quietnesss.

"Ittadakimasu," the three said in unison before they began to eat. The family ate quietly at the table, and the only sounds that could be heard were the clicking of chopsticks on the dishes.

"How was school?" Yui said breaking the silence, "Anything new been going on?"

"I have nothing new to report," Rei said.

Yui nodded to Rei and looked over at Shinji expecting an answer.

"Nothing new, everything has been the same," Shinji said.

"Really? Nothing at all?" Yui inquired.

"Nope, nothing."

"But you've been spending a lot more time with that Horaki girl right?"

"How do you…" Shinji said, "You've been having NSI report to you what I've been doing at school?"

"NSI just happened to include that portion in their report. And besides, I'm your mother, and I have a right to know what you've been doing at school."

"That doesn't give you the right to have me spied on!"

"What I'm doing is for your own safety."

"School is the only thing I have that relates to a normal life. Is school so dangerous that I need to be put under surveillance? You have no problem risking my life by fighting Angels in an Eva, but I can't be left alone to enjoy school in peace?"

Tears were welling up in Yui's eyes. "Do you really believe that I want you out there fighting against the Angels? I would do anything so that you wouldn't have to fight against the Angels, but that choice isn't up to me. I'm only concerned for your welfare Shinji."

Shinji stood up from the table and walked towards the door. When he got to door, he stopped and turned his head, "For the last 12 years I've done everything that I could to make you happy. I sacrificed my childhood for you, and now you want me to give up the little bit of a normal life that I have left?" And Shinji left the kitchen and headed up stairs to his room.

"Oba-san, you're the one who made him this way by forcing him to grow up. He hasn't been a child for the last 12 years, you can't hope to make up that lost time now," Rei said with a calm voice before she left the kitchen herself.

Yui couldn't believe her ears. Her son who actually had the audacity to talk back to her after all that she was doing for him. Shinji wouldn't normally behave this way, and he didn't start acting out of line until _she_ showed up.

* * *

Shinji went the rest of the week not speaking to his mother. He didn't know if he was right or wrong for what he said but he didn't know how to approach her anymore. He still loved her with all his heart, but she was acting strangely lately and he didn't know what to say to her. She hadn't come home and had dinner with Shinji and Rei since, and Shinji didn't even see her at home anymore.

Today was another training session with Souske, and Shinji was dreading to see Asuka again. The last session that they had did not go well. Shinji and Asuka were completely out of synch, and were destroyed by their opponents. Souske was furious at their results and made them run drills for the next three hours. Shinji saw Asuka and tried waving to her, but she ignored him and walked into the women's locker room. Shinji cringed at her reaction and went into the men's locker room to change. When he got to the training room, Asuka and Souske were already there waiting for him.

"You two will be sparring against each other today. I don't what is going on between you two, but whatever that is going on will be resolved right now," Souske ordered.

Asuka turned away from Shinji and walked towards a corner of the mat while Shinji walked to the opposite corner. Souske gave the signal for them to begin. Shinji and Asuka took fighting stances and made their way towards the center of the mat. When they both got to the center, they began to circle each other. Shinji didn't know why they were fighting, but he was upset with Asuka. The last few weeks had been so rough, and this drama with Asuka was something that he didn't need. Asuka should be one of the people that he should've been able to go for help. But instead she started distancing herself from Shinji and was only causing him more problems.

Shinji's anger began to rise and all the frustration that he'd been burying within himself just busted out. Shinji stepped into Asuka's strong side and threw a heavy roundhouse kick that Asuka blocked, but the force pushed her back a couple feet. Before she had a chance to recover, Shinji threw another roundhouse with his other leg and followed it with a backspin kick. Asuka blocked the roundhouse, ducked underneath the backspin kick, and was about to retaliate but Shinji already had an uppercut on the way. Shinji connected cleanly and knocked Asuka flat on her back.

Asuka got up from the blow, she was slightly dazed but she was able to steady herself on her feet. Being the good sport that Shinji was, he waited for Asuka to get back on her feet and get ready to fight. Shinji expected Asuka to charge him after getting back up, so he decided to rush her first to keep her on the defensive. Shinji came in swinging with a series of jabs, hooks and knees. Asuka was able to block all the attacks and threw a right hook at Shinji. Shinji saw the hook coming, blocked it and grabbed her arm and threw her over his shoulder.

Something was different about Asuka's fighting today. She wasn't as fierce as she usually was when they fought. Shinji thought that she was holding back against him, but that wasn't like her and it didn't exactly feel that way. Shinji couldn't feel any heart or passion that he usually felt when he fought against her. Shinji looked down at Asuka lying on the ground, and he was suddenly too angry to fight her anymore.

"What the hell is going on Asuka?" Shinji yelled down at her, "You can do better than this, why aren't you fighting me seriously?"

"It's nothing, I just don't feel like fighting you seriously," Asuka said angrily.

Shinji's face suddenly became a bright tomato, and his fists clenched and were quivering. Shinji slammed his fist into the ground a few centimeters from Asuka's head. Asuka flinched. She had actually thought that Shinji was going to smash his fist into her face. She had never actually seen Shinji this angry at anyone before. She didn't think that he was capable of it.

"I thought we were comrades Asuka," Shinji said in a cold tone, "We risk our lives every time the Angels attack, my mother and I are fighting, I don't need you upset with me for something I don't even know."

Asuka didn't know that Shinji was on bad terms with his mother. She suddenly felt really bad for the way she had been treating him lately. The Baka was right, it was wrong for her to mistreat him just because she couldn't understand her own feelings for him. Asuka laid there and looked into Shinji's blue eyes and understood a little of what she was feeling. She genuinely respected Shinji and actually viewed him as her equal. She had never respected anyone in her age group as an equal.

Asuka stood up and looked into Shinji's eyes and held out her hand. Her eyes slightly shifted, but they eventually landed back on Shinji again. Shinji stared into Asuka's eyes and didn't really understand what was going.

"I've never had anyone who I could respect or relate to," Asuka said, "You're the first person that I've actually had the pleasure of knowing. I'm sorry about how I've been the last few weeks… I was… confused about a lot of things, but I think I understand them better now."

Shinji was speechless at what he had just heard Asuka say. He had to admit that he felt exactly the same way. Shinji reached out and shook Asuka's hand with a firm tight grip.

Just then the lights in the room went out. The same happened all over Tokyo-3, the entire city was suddenly without power. The trio waited for the backup generators to kick on, but they remained in the dark.

* * *

Kaji ran as hard as he could towards the closing doors of the elevator. Misato calmly sat in the elevator and waited for the doors to close in front of her.

"Hey! Hold the elevator!" Kaji called out, but Misato only ignored him. _Bitch, she's trying to close the door before I get to the elevator. _Kaji got his hand crushed by the closing and he grunted in pain, but it kept the door from closing. Kaji got into the elevator breathing hard and his hand throbbing.

"Glad that I was able to make it in time," Kaji said.

"It's too bad that you did," Misato said flatly.

"Oh come on now," Kaji tried cajoling, "Why such a sour expression on your face?"

"Probably because I have to see your face so early in the morning."

"You used to like seeing my face in the morning," Kaji said as a grin spread across his lips.

Misato's face flared up. "Yeah and the morning that I decided to stop sleeping with you was the best damn choice I had ever made."

The elevator suddenly shut down and the emergency lights came on. _Right on time_, Kaji thought to himself.

* * *

"What the hell is going on?" Yui demanded to know.

"Circuit breakers for Tokyo-3's primary power source were tripped. It will take them a few hours to reset the breakers for the entire city."

"Why is neither the backup generator nor the secondary generator kicking on?"

"It seems that both generators did come on but both systems failed upon starting. It will take some time to reset both systems."

"How convenient that our primary power source and both our backup generators failed us and have left the Geo Front completely vulnerable," Yui said.

"You think that someone did this intentionally?" Fuyutski asked, "What would they be after by shutting down the power to the Geo Front?"

"They aren't after anything inside of HQ," Dr. Akagi said, "Probably data stored inside the Magi's hard drives. When they reboot all data is uploaded and saved on a backup system. The culprit would only have to hook up to the backup hard drive and they could retrieve all data that the Magi have saved in their memory banks."

"How bothersome," Yui said, "Can we do anything to make it difficult for them?"

"Once the system restarts I will have a few minutes to redirect some of the files and upload false data into the system"

"Good, lets do that."

"What terrible luck," Fuyutski said, "It would be bad if an Angel were to attack the city while our early warning systems were down."

As the Commander said this, a giant green ball of slime with an Angel core floating inside of it slithered its way towards the city. It left a trail of acid that broke everything down to a bubbling puddle of ooze.

* * *

A/N: Sorry that I haven't been updating too often. I've just been busy with work and a lot of other crap. I had writers block at a critical point in this chapter and I wanted to make it longer, but I thought it was taking me too long to decide what else to do with this chapter. Please read and review.


	16. Angels and Demons

Chapter 16

Rei had been riding the train to Nerv when the power to the city died. She had gotten off the train and was making her way towards Nerv on the streets of Tokyo-3. People were roaming the streets in confusion, no one understood why or how power had gone down. Rei had already seen several accidents at intersections due to the traffic signals going blank. Rei reasoned that something was seriously wrong with the entire power situation and made her way towards Nerv as quickly possible.

Rei had been shopping at a music store that was located on the fringe of the city's border, and the train had not taken her very far when the power died. Shinji had been feeling down the last couple of weeks and she went to the store to get him a CD of his favorite cello player, a new bow and strings for his cello. Music helped him calm down by escaping from the harsh realities of everyday life. It made her sad that he wouldn't come to her for comfort and solace, but she wouldn't force him to do anything that he was uncomfortable with doing on his own will. She understood that Shinji viewed her as someone that he needed to protect from harm. She had been training very hard lately to prove that she didn't need Shinji to protect her like his little sister. She did hope that one day he would realize that she was no longer a helpless little girl, but a woman.

As Rei was walking down the street, she suddenly felt a very familiar presence. The presence was monstrous and miles away. Rei couldn't place exactly why this strange feeling was so familiar, but it left a dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was standing atop an over-bridge to take her across the street. She stopped in the middle of the bridge and stared out towards the mountains, where she had a feeling was the direction that the aura was approaching from. She stared at the direction for a moment and suddenly saw giant green thing appear from around the mountain. Her face paled in horror at the realization of what was approaching. She quickly ran down to street level and looked around for a way to get to Nerv as quickly as possible, but she needed to warn the civilians to get to a shelter from the approaching Angel as well.

It was as if God himself had provided her with a means to get it done. She saw a van driving in her direction; it was a van with speakers attached to the top of it. It was used to assist in the election of a new candidate for a position on the city council. Rei didn't care for who was running or what they were running for. She did think that it was ironic that she was going commandeer this vehicle for the sake of assisting Nerv when the woman in the van was preaching about the evils of Nerv and how the Angels were a conspiracy set up by Nerv to keep themselves in power.

Rei stepped out into the middle of the street and spread her arms wide to insure that van stopped. The van driver was given less than 15 feet to slam on his breaks and came within a few feet of making contact with Rei. Rei still kept a stoic expression on her face and calmly walked around to the passenger side of the van.

"You stupid little brat! What the hell do you think you're doing stepping out in front of a moving vehicle! Kids these days don't have any respect!" the woman on the passenger side screamed into her microphone.

Rei approached the lady calmly and showed her Nerv ID. "I need you to drive me to Nerv headquarter as quickly as possible. An Angel is approaching and people need to be warned that this is a state of emergency," Rei said monotonously while pointing in the direction of the Angel. By now the Angel could be seen more easily seen coming around the side of the mountain. When the passengers of the van gawked back at the monster approaching, Rei took this time to push the lady aside and take her microphone from her. "Now drive," Rei commanded. The driver floored the pedal and Rei began announcing to everyone they drove by that an Angel was approaching and should take shelter immediately.

* * *

Shinji, Asuka and Souske had decided that they needed to make their way to the Command Deck to find out what was going on with the power in Nerv. It was obvious that it wasn't by chance that all the backup generators failed to activate. The trio made their way through the dark corridors of Nerv headquarters saying nothing to one another. It was Asuka who decided to break the silence.

"Shinji… Why did you even bother?" Asuka asked.

"Bother with what?" Shinji replied.

"With me…"

Shinji gave Asuka a peculiar look, but when he saw that her face was turned away, he understood what she was talking about. Why had he bothered with Asuka? Normally he would've just let it be, move on with his life and it wouldn't have bothered him. But with Asuka it did bother him that she tried to cut all ties to him, it felt as if she no longer respected him and had tried to extricate him. Asuka was his friend, comrade, and partner. Shinji wanted Asuka to be part of his life and to be a part of hers. "I already told you Asuka, we're comrades," Shinji explained, "If anything happened to you or Rei during a mission… I don't know what I would do… You're someone important to me Asuka."

"So if I wasn't an Eva pilot, then you wouldn't care what happened to me…" Asuka mumbled to herself.

"And even if you weren't an Eva pilot, we could still be friends at least and I would still worry about you," Shinji insisted loudly, "Hikari and Touji aren't pilots, but I would still be sad if anything happened to them. And even if you weren't a pilot, we would still be friends and you would still be someone who was important to me."

Asuka had comrades in the past, but they were never important to her and she was never important to them. They had always been jealous of her, and Asuka had always snubbed them. She had treated the third in the same manner, but it was rather difficult to when he was actually better than her. She was forced to recognize his skills, abilities, determination and kindness. Shinji had directed his kindness towards Asuka even though she had been a complete bitch to him from day one.

"Shinji, Asuka, this way," Souske called over to them, "I think this shaft will lead us to the Nerv Command deck."

* * *

When Shinji entered the Eva cages and saw all the people working by hand to prep the Evas for launch, he was speechless. Dozens of workers and techs were manning ropes to lift the giant plugs and getting them ready for insertion. _How did they even know that we would come?_ Shinji saw the Dr. Akagi overseeing the work and walked up to her.

"Dr. Akagi, what is all this?" Shinji asked.

"Once we got word that the Angel was approaching the city, your mother got all the staff together to manually prepare the Evas," Ritsuoko said, "Yui believed that you were coming, and that the Evas would need to be ready by the time you guys got here. She believed in you Shinji."

Shinji was speechless. Even after fighting with each other for the last few weeks, she still had enough faith in him to believe that he would not let her down. While Shinji had doubted his trust in his own mother, she still trusted him to do what was right. But if she could trust him with something so important, why was it so difficult for her to trust him with something unimportant? He would talk to her after the mission and have everything straightened out then. Ritsuoko gathered everyone else together to give the brief on the plan of attack.

"Since power is down and we don't know where in the city the Angel is. Rei said that she saw the Angel approaching the city from the north. So it's most likely path is through here," Ritsuoko said as she pointed at a paper map of the city. "The three Evas will each start at these three launch shafts," Ritsuoko explained while pointing at three different locations on the map in front of her. "You will search the city and locate the Angel. The Evas will still be able to communicate with each other, but you won't be able to contact the bridge, so you guys will be on your own. After one of you locates the Angel, call the other 2 in to your location and attack. We don't know anything about the Angel, so be careful out there," Ritsuoko said with a slight bit of concern. This would be their first mission that they would run without any guidance or leadership from Misato. _Misato might be out of a job if they pull this off._

"How the hell are we supposed to make it up to the surface if the power is out and the lifts don't work?" Asuka asked knowing that she wasn't going to like the answer.

"You guys are going to jump your way up the lift shafts," Ritsuoko said with a smile, "That's the fastest way to the surface. It should only take an Eva about a minute and a half to reach the surface, maybe 30 seconds to find the Angel, and then you have 3 minutes to finish it off."

Asuka showed obvious signs of dissatisfaction and didn't even bother to cover them up. "How are you going to make me and my Unit-02 do something so un-cool?" Asuka complained in a whiny voice.

"Because it is necessary for the survival of the human race," Commander Fuyutski said in a calm commanding voice. Asuka instantly lost her brass at hearing the Commander's voice. "Now get into your Evas and get ready to launch," the Commander ordered. The pilots scurried off to get into their plug suits and plugs.

* * *

Misato was hot, annoyed and pissed off from being stuck in the tiny little elevator with Kaji for the last couple of hours. He had spent the entire time hitting on her and trying to goad her into having sex with him in the elevator. She turned down his pathetic advances and tried her best to keep herself sane.

"Kaji, what do you know about this black out?" Misato asked, "It should be virtually impossible for Tokyo-03 to go more than 2 minutes without power, Nerv no more than 4 minutes."

"Tokyo-03 runs power off of its primary power source, and 2 sets of back-up generators that kick in if the main generators should fail for any reason. And Nerv has its own back-up generator that kicks in if the two back-ups at the main plant fail. So it should be virtually impossible for all 3 back-ups to fail at once," Kaji speculated. "Unless someone sabotaged all 4 generators."

"And the one who comes to mind is the person sitting right in front of me," Misato said.

"You give me too much credit Katsuragi," Kaji said, "I'm rotting here in this stifling elevator with you. And what could I be after other than a chance to woo you in this elevator?"

"You should've known that your extravagant plan was going to fail then," Misato snorted, "What are you really after Kaji?"

Kaji weighed his options; Misato could be a very useful tool that could get him access to the top secret areas that he was having trouble accessing. But she could also shut him down faster than anyone else in Nerv. He hoped that their friendship had not deteriorated that far over the years and she would understand what he was trying to accomplish. "Nerv and Seele have some big plans that go far beyond defending humanity against the Angels and Third Impact. It's sad that humanity's greatest enemy isn't the Angels, but themselves."

"What could they possibly hope to accomplish?"

"Everything that I've found out so far points to something impossible."

"Impossible? What can they do that seems so impossible?" Misato asked.

"They're trying to create a god using the Evas."

"God? Like created the world in 7 days god? How can the Evas have anything to do with something like that?" Misato said with a completely baffled look on her face.

"I don't the details of how Human Instrumentality will create a god, but Lilith is the key to everything. It's through Lilith that all of this is going to happen. I'm here to try and stop Nerv and Seele before they unleash something they truly don't understand. Will you help me Katsuragi?"

"The safety of the pilots is my first priority, and then ensuring that humanity isn't wiped from the face of the Earth is second. I will help whoever doesn't compromise either one of those."

Kaji smiled at Misato. "You've become a mother to them haven't you? I never thought that I would see the day that you would actually accept that role."

"SHUT UP!" Misato hollered and hit Kaji hard in the back of the head with a firm fist. She quickly turned her face away to hide the fact that she was blushing. "We've placed so much on their shoulders at such a young age. Their only worries should be getting into a university or about the person they have a crush on. How am I supposed to live the rest of my life if they died protecting me and they never got a chance to know love?"

* * *

"Damn it…" Asuka whined, "This is so un-cool…"

Unit-02 hurdled through the lift shaft, kicking off the walls, going as high as she could with each jump. The walls dented in with each kick, and the rails were crushed every time Unit-02 grabbed onto them, Nerv is going to be spending a great deal of money to repair the lifts. Unit-02 was making excellent time up the lift though, Asuka could see the elevator hatch and Unit-02 wasn't even down to 4 minutes of power yet. Unit-02 finally reached the hatch door and she grabbed onto the rails to hold herself up. Unit-02 pulled out its prog knife and began to cut her way through the armored door that kept her from the surface. Unit-02 cut through the door enough so she was able to beat it open until Asuka could fit Unit-02 through the opening in the hatch.

Unit-02 hopped through the opening and kneeled down pulling out her rifle, searching the surrounding area for any signs of the Angel. Asuka checked her power and she was at around 3:50 of power left in her Eva. "I've made it to the surface and I'm going to search for the Angel," Asuka reported over the com.

"Roger, I'm breaking through my door right now," Shinji reported, "I'll be through in a second."

"I'm just reaching my door," Rei said, "I'll be with you in a few seconds."

Tokyo-03 was a big city, and it would take too long to search the city from ground level. Asuka found a nice tall building for her to get on top of and had Unit-02 jump to the roof so that she could see the entire city. Once she reached the top, she looked around and saw a giant green ball of slime slide its way through the city.

"I've found the Angel," Asuka said, "it looks like a giant green goo monster. Yuck… The Angel is at the Shibuya district and its heading toward Shinjuku. It seems to be moving pretty slow, I should be able to intercept it before it reaches Shinjuku. I'm moving in to intercept." Unit-02 jumped down from its perch and started running though the city towards the target.

"I'm near Shibuya," Shinji said, "I'll meet you there."

"I'm near Akihabara," Rei reported, "It will take me some time before I rendezvous."

As Unit-02 got closer to Shibuya, Asuka found the trail of melted street and half eaten buildings that the Angel's strange body had touched. She followed the trail towards Shinjuku, and expected to find the Angel soon.

"I'm at Shibuya and I see the Angel," Shinji said.

"Already there Third?" Asuka said, "I have its trail and I'll be with you shortly."

Unit-02 hid behind a building and peaked around the corner. There Asuka saw the Angel, but the Angel didn't seem aware of its surroundings. It moved in a general direction and made contact with a building the Angel's body ate away at the buildings material and slid around the building. It was moving to take the shortest path of least resistance. The acid was fairly potent, because once the Angel made its way around the building, almost half the building's base was be eaten away and it simply collapsed on the Angel from the lack of support. The building that the Angel had just destroyed was nothing but rubble that buried the Angel's acidic body, but that did nothing to stop the Angel. Asuka could see that the green liquid that the Angel's body was composed of oozing through the rubble and breaking down the steel and concrete.

Asuka saw that she still had 3:30 of power left in her Unit-02. She then looked at her map of the city to determine what Shinji's location was. She saw that he was a few hundred meters north of her location, on the exact opposite side of the Angel. "Third I'm going engage the Angel and see if I can draw its attention, when I do, attack the Angel from the back and see if you can destroy the core," Asuka said, "This will make us even for saving me from the volcano."

Before Shinji could even give any protest, Unit-02 jumped out from behind her cover and began firing at the Angel with the rail gun. The magnetically propelled spikes penetrated the Angel's membrane, but the Angel was unaffected and the acid within the Angel's body melted down the spikes. The core floating within the Angel's body turned around inside the body and looked directly and Unit-02. Asuka was rather shocked at looking eye to eye with the Angel's core.

The Angel suddenly leapt through the air in Unit-02's direction. Unit-02 rolled out of the way, assumed a crouching position and fired at the bubble of acid. The Angel reached a decently high height and fell towards the ground where Unit-02 had stood. Once the Angel collided with the street, it exploded like a water balloon unleashing acid in every direction. Unit-02 stopped firing and used its rifle to block the acid that had splashed in her direction. The rifle became completely covered in acid and had protected Unit-02 from most of the deadly liquid. A few splashes still made contact with Unit-02's arms and legs, Asuka cringed in pain at the burning she was feeling.

Unit-01 jumped from his cover and charged the Angel firing his rail cannon. The Angel still possessed enough mass to break down the metal spike projectiles before reaching its core. Unit-01 dropped the useless weapon on the deck and drew 2 Eva sized katana blades that began to unleash sonic vibrations. Unit-01 swung his sonic blades at the Angel, but the Angel made no move to dodge. The katana sliced through the Angel's acidic body like butter, and the blades were un-phased by the Angel's acid. The sonic vibrations released from the blades caused the Angel's liquid body to separate before ever making contact with the metal. Shinji decided to cut his way through the Angel's body to get to its core. Unit-01 hacked and sliced its way with the sonic blades and parted the Angel's liquid body like the Red Sea.

Unit-01 was only a few meters away from the core and one more stroke would easily slice the core in half. Asuka watched in amazement as Unit-01 was about to conclude the battle, but she noticed that Unit-01 had become surrounded by the Angel's acidic body and it was starting to close in around Unit-01.

Asuka realized what was going to happen and urged Unit-02 forward. She was someone important to Shinji, and he was someone important to Asuka. Unit-02 grabbed Unit-01 and threw him behind herself. "This makes us even for the volcano Baka," Asuka said. As soon as Shinji was safely out of the way, Unit-02 was enveloped into the Angel's body. Asuka screamed in pain as the acid ate away at the Evangelion's armor and infected her neural system.

"ASUKA!" Shinji screamed in horror as he watched Unit-02 being devoured by the Angel. Unit-02 floated in the green body of the Angel and convulsed in pain as the acid ate away at its armor plating. Shinji could hear Asuka trying to hold in the screams of pain as she could feel the acid burning up her skin and the Angel's presence invading her mind.

Suddenly the Angel's body was ripped in half from Unit-00's AT field spreading at full power. Unit-02 was released from the Angel's deadly hold and writhed on the ground, still suffering from the intense pain and mental contamination. Unit-00 grabbed the Angel's core and struggled to maintain its grip and field on the Angel.

"Shinji-kun! Hurry… I can't…" Rei gasped as she fought with all her strength.

Unit-01 leapt to its feet and swung down upon the core that Unit-00 held with bold hands. The core was sliced in half and exploded into a shower of blood. The acid body that the Angel possessed no longer had an AT field to hold itself together. The acid poured from the collapsing AT field and flooded the streets of Tokyo-03 with acid. The Evangelions shut down from their battery reserves running dry.

* * *

Asuka lay motionless in a hospital bed. Shinji had been sitting by her bed for the last 4 hours. When the Angel had devoured Unit-02 for the short period of time, it had infected Unit-02's neural network and contaminated Asuka's brain. No one knew if or when she would wake up from her coma. Shinji sat by her bed racked with guilt, she had sacrificed herself to save him. Shinji's only thought was that it should be him in that bed, Asuka should have known better than to save him from the Angel. He should've been more careful, more aware of what the Angel was doing, realized that it was never that easy to defeat an Angel. Now Asuka had paid the price for his incompetence.

The door to Asuka's room opened quietly. Shinji turned around to see that it was Hikari who entered and she was dressed in her school uniform carrying a bouquet of flowers. Hikari somberly walked over to the Asuka's bedside where Shinji sat and placed a hand on his shoulder. She sniffed back a few tears from seeing Asuka's unconscious body lying on the hospital bed. Asuka was had several bandages covering most of her exposed appendages, she looked so frail and helpless in the hospital bed. Hikari was used to seeing her filled with life and energy, walked around as if she were indestructible and there was nothing that she couldn't face alone. Hikari quickly turned away before she choked up with tears and placed the flowers she brought in the vase next to her bed.

"Thanks for coming Hikari…" Shinji said in a low hoarse raspy voice, he could barely speak himself.

"Of course, she's been such a great friend to me," Hikari said, "It's so strange to see her like this compared to how she usually is."

"I know… I'm in awe myself… 'The Invincible Asuka Langley Sorhyu-sama' is bed ridden," Shinji said sadly. "GOD DAMN THOSE ANGELS!" Shinji screamed while clenching his fists, causing the bed sheets to crinkle. "I'll kill every one of those bastards!" Shinji suddenly felt Hikari's arms wrap around him and his rage was slightly appeased. "Hikari?"

"Do what you need to do Shinji-kun," Hikari whispered in his ear, "Become a demon so that you can stay alive and protect this city, but remember who you really are. You are not really a demon, a nice kind-hearted person that I've grown up with since kindergarten… The man I love…"

"Hikari…" Shinji didn't know what else to say. In his 16 years, he had never had a girl besides his mother tell him that she loved him. He started thinking about who this girl standing beside him was. She had been the closest friend since he was a child and she had always stood by him offering any support that she could provide, but he had always blocked her out and kept his problem to himself. Now she was putting herself out there so that he could confide in her. Shinji stood up from his seat and looked into her soft brown eyes, and he could tell that she did genuinely love him.

Shinji hugged Hikari and pulled her close to him. With everything that had been going on the last couple of weeks and with Asuka in a coma, all Shinji wanted was someone to love. He wanted Hikari's love and he wanted to love Hikari with all his heart. "Thank you… so much…" Shinji said while crying into her shoulder. Hikari could feel her heart pounding throughout her body and she was certain that Shinji could feel it as well, but she didn't care. It made her so happy to hear Shinji thank her for something that she was finally able to do for him. She raised her arms to hold the man she loved as close as possible and she wasn't going to let him go for anyone.

* * *

Yui Ikari sat in her office reading the report of the battle and the reasons for the power outage. Ritsuoko had successfully loaded dummy information into the Magi so that when the information was loaded, whoever was trying to access the Magi would only receive gigabytes of useless information. She was rather pleased with how everything had played out. The spy had been thwarted and Sorhyu was put into a coma. Yui didn't want to take any chances with the girl though, she was a resilient strong willed girl, and there was no need for her to wake up on her own. The only problem posed to the consequences of how Shinji would react if Asuka's condition suddenly became unstable. She figured that Shinji was already wallowing in self-pity, there was no reasons to have Shinji withdraw even further.

"Make sure that Asuka stays sedated so that she never wakes up," Yui ordered.

Ritsuoko who was standing in the room was shocked to hear the order. "Is that necessary?" Ritsuoko asked, "We're going to need her to wake up and recover as soon as possible."

"There's no need," Yui said nonchalantly, "Unit-03 is near completion and we can always find ourselves a new pilot for Unit-02. Is there a problem Dr. Akagi?"

"No Ma'am."

"Good make sure it's taken care of."

Ritsuoko took the report from Yui and left the room. Yui quietly mused to herself at how well everything had fallen into place. The old men in Seele where becoming aware of her ambitions, but there was nothing that they could do about it, they needed her way too much to dispose of her. She had been suspecting that Kaji was the spy who had sabotaged the power system to receive information from the Magi. He was probably working for the old men. She would have to dispose of him. She would have to be the comforting mother for Shinji and she would have him back under her control in no time. Everything was playing out as it should according to _her_ scenario.

* * *

A/N: I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in such a long time. I've been drained from work just about everyday and I was never in the mood to write. Then there was the release of StarCraft 2 and I really didn't care about anything else. =P. I'll try to get back on schedule and update more often. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I put a lot of effort into writing it. Please read and review. Pardon any bad grammar or typos, I posted it as soon as I finished since it's been a while. Thanks for reading and keep reading.


	17. Can you hear me?

Chapter 17

Rei sat in her chair looking at the red head that lay in the bed motionless. The only thing that could be heard in the room was the slow steady beats coming from the heart monitor. Asuka had been in the hospital for a week now and this was Rei's first time visiting the Second Child, Shinji had been visiting Asuka everyday this week. Whenever Rei and Asuka where together in the same room, the German would usually try to make conversation by talking shit about Shinji. It usually annoyed Rei to hear her voice complain about Shinji so she would ignore her and try to block it out as ambient noises. It bothered Asuka to see Rei so quiet and lifeless.

Rei thought of Asuka's many annoying personality traits, headstrong, stubborn, aggressive, narcissistic, candid, and many other things. It was all these traits that Rei truly admired. Asuka had been able to do something that no other person had ever been able to accomplish; she got Shinji to open up and showed him that he could depend on others. Rei had tried for many years but didn't know how to go about to accomplishing the task. Rei could only respect Asuka for succeeding in such a short amount of time where Rei had failed for so many years. Shinji needed Asuka for his own personal growth.

"Asuka… We don't get along… and we don't talk very much… " Rei said to Asuka, "But I need you to wake up. Shinji needs you to wake up…" It was even more difficult for Rei to express her emotions then it is for Shinji to. She only came here in hopes that her words might reach Asuka's distant mind. "Meeting you has been the best thing to happen in Shinji's life, but with you here in this bed, he's pretending that he's fine and keeping his anger to himself. His heart is being consumed with hate and rage towards the Angels and himself. I'm worried that he's going to push everyone away if you don't wake up soon."

Rei looked at Asuka hoping that she would wake up at hearing of Shinji's need, but her hopes were in vain. "I know that you love him, and…" Rei hesitated, "…I know that deep down he loves you too. You two are perfect for each other…" Rei bowed her head and cried into her hands. She wanted Shinji to be happy and that required Asuka to wake up.

"I truly do envy you for being able to do what you do. I wish that I could be just a little like you…" Rei said, "I know that you will wake up soon Asuka. Until then, I will keep Shinji safe."

Rei stood up from her seat and walked towards the door. When Rei reached the door, she heard the heart monitor beep a little faster. Rei turned around and looked at Asuka's bed. The beats increased their pace for a short period of time and then went back to normal. Rei smiled to herself and left the room.

"Stubborn bitch…"

* * *

_Play Intro._

It would be a great spot to play the intro if this were a real episode. =P

* * *

"Shinji… I'm sorry about what happened to Asuka…" Yui said with a low tone from the kitchen doorway. Shinji was sitting in the kitchen alone with the lights off. He had a full cup of tea in front of him, it was cold but it was probably hot a little while ago.

It had been a little over a week since Asuka had been hospitalized. Asuka had gotten injured from saving Shinji from harm's way. This thrilled Yui to no end, her son was safe and unharmed, and the pesky little wench who was trying to scoop her son away was now in a coma. Shinji was hers once again, she only needed to step in to console him in his time of sorrow and he would be her puppet.

"Thanks Mom…" Shinji replied, "…but she's in there because I was reckless and she protected me from my foolishness!" Shinji slammed his fist against the table.

"Shinji… What happened to Asuka isn't your fault."

"It isn't… I know that… But I can't help but feel responsible… "

Yui smiled at Shinji on the surface, but she surprised to see Shinji not accept full responsibility for what had happened. It wasn't like him to behave this way. It was her easiest way to control Shinji, to exploit his sense of responsibility for actions that weren't really his fault. How much had her Shinji grown up in the last few months? It was going to take her longer to regain her hold of Shinji.

"Thanks Mom…" Shinji said, "I'm lucky to have you, Rei, Misato and Hikari here with me."

"Horaki?" Yui asked sounding a bit surprised. Yui had expected to hear Rei's and Misato's names, but the Horaki girl was a name she hadn't expected.

"Yeah… Hikari came to the hospital as soon as she heard about Asuka getting hurt during the battle. She's always been there for me and a good friend," Shinji said.

Yui hugged Shinji and said, "I will always be here for anything that you need. _I_ am your family, don't _ever_ forget that."

Shinji returned the hug. "I love you Mom."

"I love you too Shinji," Yui said. Shinji was just surrounded by sneaky little tramps. Horaki Hikari had a lot of nerve to try and steal her Shinji when he was hurt and vulnerable. Yui would have to watch the relationship closely and dispose of her if she became too close with Shinji.

* * *

Shinji eyed his opponent through the visor of his fencing mask. He held his boken with sweaty palms, his fencing pads were soaked and fat drops of sweat cascaded down his face. His entire body was tired and in pain, but he didn't feel any of it. There was only the man that stood before him. He was a security guard who worked in the Geo Front, a good head taller than Shinji as well as having 15-20 pounds of muscle on top of him. Shinji had already defeated three other security guards, and now they had brought out their strongest man to defend their pride. Each and every strike from this man had almost knocked Shinji off his feet when he had blocked them. This security guard was a lot more skilled then the other three that Shinji had already defeated.

Shinji and the guard slowly circled each other. Shinji stepped in first and swung his boken down, and cracked against the hard wood of his opponent's boken. Shinji quickly side stepped and swung his wooden sword from the side, but it was deflected yet again by the bigger man. Shinji and the guard exchanged blows at a rapid pace, constantly switching back and forth between offense and defense. They could only attack with two or three strikes before they were put back on defense by the other.

Shinji could feel his muscles getting weaker and slowing down, so he created some space between him and his opponent. But the older man must have realized that Shinji's body was wearing down, and he followed Shinji constantly pummeling him, forcing him to defend against the onslaught. Shinji suddenly rolled towards his opponent to dodge a vertical strike. Shinji avoided the strike and was positioned behind the guard. Shinji quickly turned as he rose on his feet. As soon as he turned around, he caught a glimpse of the boken coming towards his head. The boken connected to Shinji's helmet and knocked him on his back.

The teenager lay on the floor breathing hard and too tired to get up, three was his limit. He suddenly saw a hand that belonged to the security guard. Shinji accepted the help and got back on his feet. The guard patted Shinji on the shoulder and said, "You're pretty good kid, even after sparring against these three you still gave me some trouble. I'll be careful next time we spare, you might get me then." After he said that he turned and left with his three companions. It wasn't good enough for Shinji though, since Asuka was bed ridden because of him. _I'll get stronger Asuka, and I'll get those bastards for having hurt you. I won't let anyone else down again._

Shinji took a break to let his muscles rest and to get a drink of water. After resting for a few minutes, Shinji got back out on the mat to practice his forms. The door to the dojo opened and Rei entered with a determined look on her face. Shinji stopped what he was doing and saw that she was carrying a boken, helmet and wearing fencing pads.

"Hey Rei," Shinji said while gasping for breath, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to spar with you," Rei said, "So that we can learn to fight together as you have with Asuka."

Shinji's face was rather surprised by this, but she was right. Now that Asuka was in the hospital, it was imperative for humanity's survival for him and Rei to be able to fight as a team. Shinji didn't like the idea, and he wanted to be able to keep Rei out of danger if that was at all possible, but he knew that she would never allow it. Shinji's face started to tingle when he remembered Rei slapping him at the grave site. The only real way to protect her was to work with her.

Shinji raised his boken towards Rei. "Then prove that you can keep up with me!"

Rei put on her helmet and took a fighting stance as well. She quickly stepped in and swung her boken at Shinji. Rei didn't hold back, she let her swordsmanship express her pride, joy, and anger. It was the first time Shinji had ever acknowledged her as an equal, so she fought as hard as she could. She was happy to be able to prove herself as a woman to Shinji, so she moved fluidly and graciously. Her anger raged at the Angels for having started this war, so she swung her boken with every ounce of strength she possessed.

_I'll be sure that you stay alive Shinji, even if I have to die… _

* * *

Hikari excitedly waited at the train station. Hikari was eager and filled with anticipation to have her first date with Shinji. She was wearing a rather modest sleeveless light blue dress that came down to her knees and the cut only came down a little below her collar bone. It was one of her favorite dresses. She had combed her hair out straight and it cascaded down to middle of her back. Her sister Nozomi had spent over an hour dressing her up for this date. She wasn't comfortable wearing make-up and against her sister's wishes she opted to not wear any.

Hikari looked at her watch and saw that it was only 11:49. She had been so excited about the date that she had shown up 15 minutes early. She was delighted to see Shinji walking towards her, he was always so responsible and punctual. He was wearing blue jeans and a white polo shirt with black stripes going horizontally. Hikari waved to him with a great big smile across her face and he waved back with a smile on his face as well. Shinji walked up to her and gave her a hug.

"Thanks for convincing me to come out Hikari," Shinji said.

Hikari smiled back at him. "Well we've been dating for almost 3 weeks now and we still haven't had a date. It only seemed appropriate," Hikari said. Shinji had been in a slump for the first week about Asuka being in the hospital, and he was just starting to be his old self. Hikari had pounced on the opportunity and talked Shinji into going on a date with her.

"You look great today… Not that you don't look good every day, but I hope you're ok with being seen with a plain guy like me," Shinji said.

Hikari blushed at hearing anyone compliment her like that for the first time. She had never considered herself to be beautiful compared to Asuka, Rei or any of the other girls that she went to school with. She felt like Shinji was too good to be with someone like her.

"We should get going," Hikari forced the words from her throat thinking that her heart would jump out with the words from how furiously it was beating. Shinji smiled at her and offered his hand for her to take. Hikari accepted eagerly.

The couple left the train station and went to a nearby restaurant for lunch. They happily chit chatted about school, movies, music and any topic that came to mind. Hikari had learned for the first time that Shinji's favorite band was Larc-en-Ciel, his favorite movie was Gladiator, his favorite anime was Great Teacher Onizuka, and his favorite food was eel. Hikari had thought it was odd that she had known Shinji for so many years and had never bothered to learn any of this. She wondered if Asuka already knew all of this. The couple finished up eating their lunches and the waitress showed up asking them if they wanted any desserts.

"Asuka loves the strawberry parfait from this place," Shinji suggested, not thinking about what he was saying.

"You and Asuka had already come here once before?" Hikari asked.

"We come here a lot after we're done with tests or training," Shinji said, "There was one time when…" Shinji noticed that Hikari was starting to become uncomfortable with him talking about Asuka so easily, and he quickly stopped. "Sorry about that…"

"Oh no, it's fine," Hikari said, "You guys are such good friends and you're both pilots. So it's obvious that you guys would spend a lot of time together." _So he brought me to a restaurant that he and Asuka come to a lot, _Hikari thought to herself.

"I suppose…" Shinji said, "But I'm here with you right now. I can't be talking about another girl when I'm with such a great one as it is." Shinji tried to smile at Hikari, hoping that she would forgive him.

Hikari smiled back at Shinji and took a hold his hand. The couple paid the bill and headed for the movie theater to catch their show. The movie was a comedy romance that Shinji didn't care to see, but Hikari had really wanted to watch it. Shinji sat through the movie for the sake of watching it, it had a few moments that made Shinji chuckle, but it wasn't a movie that he would ever care to see again. Shinji looked over at Hikari, and her eyes were glued to the screen. When Shinji had bought the tickets, he had seen a showing of a bank heist movie that he and Asuka had wanted to see when it hit theaters. He had considered asking Hikari if she was willing to watch it, but decided against it. He would go watch it with someone else or hopefully with Asuka if she ever woke up.

Hikari looked over at Shinji and saw him staring blankly at the screen. Hikari suddenly became worried that they should've watched a movie that Shinji would enjoy. Hikari had trouble focusing on the rest of the movie, worried that she had ruined the date. Shinji watched the movie expecting it to play out like every other comedy romance and had calculated that the end was near when the shit hit the fan. True to Shinji's predictions, it played out like he expected it to and the guy got the girl in the end. Shinji stretched his arms and legs as the lights in the theater made everything easier to see. Shinji saw that Hikari had a worried look on her face.

"How did you like the movie?" Shinji asked.

"It was good," Hikari responded, "How did you like it?"

Shinji didn't hate the movie. "It was great," Shinji said with a smile.

"Ok…" Hikari said knowing that Shinji was being polite.

Shinji frowned, noticing that something was off with her tone. "Is something wrong?"

"it's nothing…" Hikari said. Shinji didn't believe her and he didn't want to push the subject.

"Is there anything else that you wanted to do?" Shinji asked as they exited the theater.

"Anything you want to do is fine with me," Hikari replied.

"Let's get going then."

Hikari smiled at him letting him know that she was simply happy to be able to spend time with him. Shinji smiled back and took her hand and led her away from the theater. The couple went to a nearby park to stroll through the greenery. Neither one said much, both were unsure of what to say to each other on a date. It was finally Shinji who broke the silence.

"I'm sorry Hikari…" Shinji said, "This date hasn't been going exactly like you hoped, and that's my fault."

"Shinji-kun…" Hikari said. She couldn't deny the fact that she had been feeling like she was being overshadowed by Asuka.

"I guess that I'm still feeling guilty about what happened to Asuka," Shinji said, "It's not fair that I'm leading you along just so that I can try to make myself feel better. You deserve better than this. I just hope that we can still be friends though. Bye…"

Shinji was about to turn to leave, but he felt Hikari grab his hand. "I know that you're hurting about what happened to Asuka… And I'm the one who should be saying sorry for trying to take advantage of your guilt and sorrow so that you would date me…"

Shinji was speechless, he had not thought of it like that at all.

"I know that Asuka is a very important person to you, and I'm never going to be able to take her place, but I want to be here with you to help you ease those pains, I love you Shinji Ikari."

Hikari's heart was pounding so hard that she thought that it was going to crack one of her ribs. She looked up at Shinji and he had a look of complete shock. She didn't know if what she had said had made a good or bad impact, but she decided that she would go for the Hail Mary. She slowly lifted up her hand to his face, and was relieved that he didn't slap it away. She softly caressed his cheek, pulled his face towards hers and kissed him gently on the lips. Lightning zapped through her body at having her first kiss with Shinji, his lips were soft and warm. She was surprised to find that Shinji was kissing her back and had brought his arms around her. Both teenagers were rather clumsy with the kiss, but they enjoyed the sensation. Hikari hooked her arm around Shinji's neck and melted away in his warm embrace and soft lips.

* * *

Kaji saw Shinji walking down the hall of the Nerv facility. He seemed to have a little hop in his step, it was the first time that Kaji had seen the boy with lifted spirits since Asuka had been put in the hospital about a month ago. He had noticed in class that Shinji and the Class Representative had been talking a lot. Kaji couldn't remember what her name was though, Hariko, Haruhi or something like that. Kaji thought she was a cute girl, but a little timid and plain. He supposed that she was a good girl for Shinji, but he was obviously substituting her for Asuka.

"Yo Shinji-kun!" Kaji called out as he waved at Shinji, "How's it going?"

"Hey Ryoji-sensei… I mean Kaji-san," Shinji fumbled his words, "I just got done with some harmonics tests."

"I had heard that your scores had been dropping the last couple of weeks," Kaji said, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah they had been, but my score went back up 4 points since last week," Shinji said with a little cheer in his voice.

"Oooohh… So something has been giving you some confidence in yourself?" Kaji inquired, "Maybe a… girlfriend?"

Shinji turned a mild shade of red as he replied, "I started dating Hikari…"

That was her name. "The Class Rep?" Kaji said sounding surprised, "Going for the big fish I see Shinji. So have you lost it then?"

Shinji had a confused look on his face. "Lost what Kaji-san?"

Kaji pulled Shinji in close and whispered in his ear, "Your virginity…"

Shinji quickly pulled away and his face was now a bright red tomato. "We haven't gotten that far yet. I don't want to rush Hikari into anything that she's uncomfortable with…"

Kaji grinned at the young boy. "Well let me give you a few pointers for when you do the deed. More than likely you're both just going to do it missionary your first time, and that's fine but there are many different ways to do it. You already know about doggy style right?"

Shinji was obviously uncomfortable with the subject, but he went along with it. "Th…that's… when… you do it from behind right?" Shinji whispered.

"Right, no reason to go over it then," Kaji said, "so you know basic positions, I'll tell you more about the different positions after you've had sex for a little while. Now the most important thing is…"

Before Kaji could continue with the lesson, Misato had been walking up on the two males and had seen that Shinji's face was bright red and Kaji looked like he was up to something devious. When Misato came in ear shot she heard the word sex and freaked out. She took her clipboard and smacked Kaji on the back of the head. Kaji cringed in pain, grabbed the back of his head and turned to see Misato standing over him filled with righteous anger.

"What the hell are you teaching Shinji-kun you sick bastard?" Misato roared.

"The secrets to success," Kaji said with a wink, "You should know all about them Katsuragi."

Misato's face turned a bright red and turned to Shinji and said, "Don't listen to anything this loser has to say! He has no idea what he's talking about!"

"O…O…Ok…" Shinji said.

Kaji had a smirk on his face from Misato's statement. "Didn't you used to enjoy what I did for you Katsuragi? You used to scream and moan so loud that Ritsuoko wouldn't be able to sleep or study."

"That's because I was young and naïve! I've been plenty of other men that have been 100 times better than you!"

Shinji was rather surprised to hear this, for as long as he had known Misato, she never had a steady boyfriend. She would occasionally go on dates when other people tried to hook her up with their friends, but she would never follow up with any of them. Misato had always told him that they were all boring, fake, and just trying to get into her pants. Shinji had never understood what that meant until recently.

Kaji saw the look on Shinji's face and knew she was lying to protect her pride. "If that's the case then I'm probably not the person to being teaching Shinji this kind of stuff. I'll let you continue Shinji's education then Katsuragi," Kaji said as he walking away and waved good-bye, "Listen to Katsuragi Shinji-kun. You're not going to find a better teacher anywhere else in the world."

Shinji and Misato stood there and watched Kaji walk away. Shinji turned his head towards Misato, he was really hoping that she wasn't going to teach him about how to pleasure a woman. It was bad enough for him to hear it from Kaji-san, but he wasn't sure how he would handle Misato giving him the lesson. Misato looked down at him and her eyes opened wide.

"I'm really busy right now Shinji-kun, so we'll talk about this some other time," Misato said and quickly went on her way. Shinji breathed a little easier knowing that he wasn't likely going to get a continuation of the class with Misato.

* * *

"Unit-03 is nearly completed," Yui announced in the conference room, "The pilot that the Americans trained was severely injured in the last test and won't be able to pilot again. They have asked us to select a pilot for Unit-03." The only ones that were present in the conference room were Misato, Ritsuoko, Maya and Yui.

"Everyone in Shinji's class is a potential candidate," Ritsuoko said, "The Magi chose these two as the best candidates to pilot Unit-03." Ritsuoko passed out copies of the two student profiles that the Magi had selected.

Misato looked over the two profiles and was rather upset about the two top candidates. "You can't be serious about this… So we're going to pick between Shinji's best friend or his girlfriend?"

"We're going to use both of them," Yui explained, "Unit-02 is currently without a pilot. We'll bring both children in and test them both. Whoever performs better on the harmonics test will be the primary pilot of Unit-03 and the other will be a back-up pilot for Unit-02 until Asuka wakes up."

"There's no else that we can use besides these two?" Misato inquired.

"Is there a problem Captain Katsuragi?"

"Yes Ma'am, I'm concerned about how the pilot of Unit-01 will react to this decision. This could severely hinder his capabilities given what we know of his psyche."

"It is unfortunate that we're going to be using people who Shinji care so deeply for, but for the sake of humanity, they are our best chances of survival. Shinji will have to come to terms with that on his own," Yui said.

Misato let out a sigh of disapproval, but she had to concur with their reasons. "Yes Ma'am," Misato replied.

Yui was rather pleased with herself on the final decision. Ritsuoko had no love or hate for any of the pilots, so she was rather easy to convert. Maya would go along with anything that Ritsuoko agreed with. Misato was the only one that Yui was concerned with, but the Captain had no choice but to listen to reason.

"I'll go inform the Commander of our decision," Yui told the small assembly.

Yui left the conference room and made her way to Fuyutski's office. Yui entered the office, she didn't bother knocking or requesting permission to see the older gentleman. Fuyutski's office was furnished with a mahogany desk with an intricate ivy design that was carved into the table. The table sat on an old European rug that was decorated with a complex pattern of maroon, green, white and black. The wall behind his desk was a giant bookshelf packed with many different books ranging from Shakespeare, Socrates, Plato and Sun Tzu. The office homely, relaxing and well suited for a man of the Commander's age. Fuyutski didn't bother lifting his eyes from the paper work that he had on his desk. He knew that there was no one in Nerv who would have the audacity to just simply walk into his office without asking permission.

"I take it that you have decided on a replacement pilots for Unit-02 and a primary for Unit-03?" Fuyutski asked while reading over the document in front of him.

Yui placed two portfolios containing the Fourth and Fifth Children's profiles. Fuyutski stopped what he was doing to open the folders. He skimmed through both portfolios briefly and lifted his pen to sign the approval, but as his pen touched the paper he stopped and looked up at Yui.

"Do we really need to sacrifice one of these children to complete the contract?" Fuyutski asked, "We know that Unit-03 is going to be possessed by an Angel. Why are we going to give it a pilot and risk activating it if we know its going turn on us?"

Yui sighed at the old man's difficulty. "Because it is necessary by the contract that we eliminate ALL the Angels," Yui said. She sat on the mahogany desk and ran her fingers through Fuyutski's hair. "Lilith requires the blood of each and every Angel that we defeat, and that includes the infected blood of Unit-03. Lilith is evolving and growing faster with the sacrifice of each Angel that we provide her. After the twelfth angel is defeated, Lilith will be ready to complete the contract."

"Why can't we just destroy Unit-03 once it gets here and take the blood then?"

"Because the Angel won't fully infect Unit-03 until after we attempt to activate it with a pilot. Now hurry up and sign the forms Professor," Yui demanded.

"Shinji won't be able to draw Unit-03's blood if there is still someone inside the entry plug," Fuyutski said.

"Shinji will fight and try to save whoever is piloting Unit-03. If he can save the pilot, then he will kill the Angel. If the pilot cannot be saved, then Shinji will kill the Angel while trying to save the pilot. He won't know if they're dead or alive until after the battle. And if he fails, I will be here to comfort him from the heinous act of murder that he just committed."

Fuyutski looked down at the approval forms to have Touji and Hikari be added the Evangelion project. Yui would just have him killed and assume command of Nerv herself if he refused to go along with Yui's scheme. He could at least try reducing some of the devastation that Yui would leave in her wake. Kozo would remember Touji and Hikari along with everyone else that he and Yui had sacrificed for their goals.

* * *

Shinji sat quietly in the lifeless hospital room and just stared at Asuka lying in her bed motionless. Asuka had been in her coma for about a month now, and Shinji diligently visited her every day. In all the other visits Shinji had made, he had never spoken a single word. He never knew what he was supposed to say to her. As Shinji gathered up his courage to say something to his bed ridden comrade.

"Hi Asuka…" Shinji said, "You probably can't hear me right now, but I've been here every day since the battle. This is the first time that I've actually tried speaking to you since you've been in a coma… I didn't feel like I deserved to. Silly isn't it? If it wasn't for you watching my back… I would be in that coma right now. I'm sorry for my reckless actions that got you in here and thank you… for saving me. "

"This is going to be my last visit. You would probably be really mad at me right now if you saw me coming here every day," Shinji said with a shallow smile on his face, "The next time I come to see you will be when you're actually awake."

Shinji stared down at his hands that were resting on his lap. He was opening them so that his palms would rest on his legs and then clenching them tight and then opening up his palms again. "I won't let your sacrifice be in vain Asuka, I'll keep on living and fighting against the Angels for as long as I need to until you wake up. I know that you're going to wake up, because you're the strongest person that I've ever met. I'll be waiting Asuka."

Shinji stood from his seat and walked towards to the door. Shinji left the room and closed the door behind him. After he had left, a single tear formed rolled down the side of Asuka's face.

* * *

A/N: Another chapter complete! I had considered having Shinji just completely full of guilt and anger for letting Asuka get hurt, but I wanted to show that he actually is growing and learning how depend on people. I hope that I didn't make this chapter sound too corny and sappy. Chapter releases might start getting more spaced out with snowboarding season so close, so I'll try to get the next chapter done before I start snowboarding for the year. Please R&R, I always love getting feed back on my writing.


	18. Someone worth fighting for

Chapter 18

Asuka was surrounded by an impenetrable curtain of darkness. The young German couldn't see anything around her except the endless void. She was only accompanied by her own thoughts of loneliness. She wasn't bothered from being alone because she had been alone for most of her life. It hadn't always been like that though she used to have her mother when she needed someone to help her stand, when she needed a shoulder to cry on. Asuka's thoughts drifted back to the time she used to spend with her mother. A time when she was always laughing and smiling, striving to make her mother smile.

Asuka was always the top of her class in elementary school. Her mother was always so proud of her whenever she came back and showed off her test scores. Kyoko couldn't be as proud of Asuka as Asuka was for gaining her mother's acknowledgement. Kyoko was the lead scientist at the Gerhin branch in Germany, and she was praised and respected by everyone she worked with. Asuka was always amazed and in awe of her mother. Asuka Langley Soryu was Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu's daughter, and she wouldn't tolerate to disgrace her mother by being second best. She would prove to everyone that she was the best daughter to the best mother.

Then on that fateful day, Asuka's world shattered before her very eyes. During the first activation experiment for Unit-02, Kyoko was the test pilot. Asuka was at school when the activation test went on, but when she got back from school her mother was in the hospital. No one would tell Asuka any of the details, but being the smart girl that she was, she was able to listen and deduce what had happened. She wasn't allowed to see her mother once during the few weeks that she was at the hospital. But when she finally got to visit her mother at the hospital…

"Mama! You're ok!" Asuka screamed as she ran to her mother's bedside. She jumped onto the hospital bed and hugged her with all her strength. "I was so worried about you, Mama. Papa and everyone else wouldn't let me see you at all!"

"You're a cute little girl," Kyoko said, "You remind me of Asuka."

Asuka giggled at her mother's comment. "Mama, stop being silly," Asuka said, "I am Asuka!"

Kyoko gave her daughter a puzzled look and looked to her husband. Asuka's father took Asuka and pulled her away from her mother. "Asuka, Mama is still a little sick right now. So we should let her get some more rest." Asuka's father led his daughter out of the room. "Wait here for Daddy sweetie," Asuka's father told her in the hall way and he walked back into the room with his wife and the doctor.

Asuka was baffled by the entire situation. She walked up to the window and saw that her father was crying and the doctor who was a woman, had her hand on her father's shoulder to support him. Asuka was too young to understand what was going on and none of the adults would explain to her what was going on.

X-X

Hikari was getting used to breathing in the LCL fluid to provide oxygen to her lungs. It had startled her when the plug began to fill up with the strange liquid, but was even more shocked to find out that she could breathe in the odd liquid and not choke to death. Her heart rate had finally calmed down and she was able to focus on the test like Katsuragi-san and Akagi-san had instructed. She was driven to do the best she could, so that she could try to help Shinji bear some of the burden of being an Eva pilot. She had been excited when she thought of how close she would grow to Shinji by being an Eva pilot.

"That's all for today," Dr. Akagi said over the com, "Hikari, Touji, both of you did well for your first times."

Hikari exited the plug after it was drained of all its fluids. She hopped out of the plug, anxious to know if she qualified or not. Shinji and Rei had taken the test with Touji and Hikari as part of their weekly routine. Shinji was shocked to see Hikari show up at Nerv and he hadn't said a word to Hikari when he learned that Hikari was going to be an Eva pilot. When Hikari saw Shinji outside the plug, he simply walked past her, not even acknowledging her presence. Hikari became hurt at Shinji giving her the cold shoulder, and then she began to get angry. She didn't have a chance to say anything to Shinji, because everyone gathered in the control room to be debriefed by Misato and Ritsuoko.

"Hikari-kun, you scored a 38.4%," Ritsuoko said, "Touji-kun, 36.7%. It was very good for your first times, both of you pass the minimal requirements to activate an Eva. Your scores should improve with some training and practice."

Hikari's pride swelled up through her chest. She looked over at Touji and noticed that he didn't seem as happy. Maybe it was because he had gotten a lower score than she did?

"Shinji-kun," Misato said in a stern voice, "Your score dropped four points today. I know what's on your mind right now, but there's nothing we can do it about it. You're going to have to deal with it whether you like it or not."

"Yes Ma'am," Shinji replied in a flat tone.

Misato looked directly at Shinji for a few moments before she spoke again. "The four of you are dismissed. You're free to shower, change and go home for the day."

Shinji quickly left the room without the rest of the other teenagers. Hikari was surprised by this and went after him. She quickly caught up to him in the hallway a short ways away from the control room.

"Shinji-kun!" Hikari called out as she caught up with her boyfriend.

Shinji stopped walking, but he neither turned to face Hikari nor said anything to her.

"Shinji-kun, what's the matter?" Hikari asked, "Why are you upset?"

"Why are you here Hikari?" Shinji asked in a cold tone.

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you trying to become an Eva pilot?"

"Because I want to be able to help you…"

"What makes you think that being an Eva pilot will help me? My score dropped today because I couldn't focus on the test when I knew that you were taking the exact same test! Do you think that being a pilot is easy for me? That it'll be easy for you?" Shinji said, still with his back to Hikari.

"I know that it's not going to be easy and that I'm going to have to work hard at this. You don't have any problems with Asuka or Rei piloting Eva. Why is there such a problem with me?"

"It's a war Hikari! We've been training our entire lives for this!" Shinji voice began rising, "You might only get a week or even a month to practice before an Angel attacks. And when that does happen, I'm not going to be able to fight the Angel and protect you as well!"

Hikari screamed, "I'm not a helpless girl that always needs to be saved. I can be like Asuka and Rei! I can be there to help you too!" Tears began to well up in her eyes. She quickly bowed her head and tried her best to fight back the tears.

Shinji wrapped his arms around his girlfriend and pulled her close. "Hikari… I don't need you to be like Rei or Asuka. I need you to be yourself for me, because that is the Hikari that I'm in love with. If something happened to you during a battle, I don't know how I would take it," Shinji's voice quivered like he had a big lump in his throat.

Hikari slowly pushed away from him and looked up into his azure eyes, and she could see fear, anxiety and sadness in them. She reached up and stroked his face and gave him a light kiss on Shinji's soft moist lips. "I'm not trying to take Asuka's or Rei's place in your life," Hikari said, "I'm exactly where I want to be and that's being by your side. I don't want for you to take care of me and I'm going to work hard to make sure that you don't have to."

"Why do you have this deluded misconception that it's romantic to fight against monsters trying to kill us?" Shinji growled, "It's a war Hikari, there's nothing romantic about it. You'll always be by my side, but there is no reason for it to be on the battlefield."

"Why is it that I have to wait for you to die? Why do Rei and Asuka get to fight by your side? You're not even upset that Touji was selected!" Hikari yelled back, "Why am I the only one that's helpless?"

Shinji didn't have an answer or response. How could Shinji think that Hikari was helpless, she was a strong willed and independent girl who could take care of herself. He just had a terrible gut feeling that he didn't want Hikari to be an Eva pilot. Touji was a guy, so it seemed natural that it was ok for him to be an Eva pilot opposed to Hikari. Rei and Asuka were exceptions because they had been trained their entire lives to pilot Eva. Why couldn't Hikari understand that it really bothered him to have her pilot Eva?

"I just don't want you piloting Eva," Shinji said, "I don't know why, but I get the feeling that something really bad is going to happen."

"You just don't want me to pilot?" Hikari said as her voice steadily gained volume, "What kind of a stupid reason is that? Do I really look that innocent and helpless? Fuck You Shinji Ikari! I'm going to pilot Eva whether you like it or not!"

Hikari bolted off towards the women's locker rooms. Shinji was completely shocked by what had just happened. He had never expected Hikari to act like that, but as he replayed the conversation in his head, he could understand why she did blow up that way. Shinji sighed and turned towards the men's locker room when he saw Kaji leaning up against the wall, his back was to Shinji and he was partially hidden by the wall. Shinji walked in his direction to get to the locker room.

"Women are bitches aren't they Shinji-kun?" Ryouji asked, "However, Men are as stupid as they are bitchy."

"You heard everything?" Shinji asked.

"I heard enough to understand the problem," Kaji replied, "It's very noble that you care about her well being. I would love to be able to protect Katsuragi the very same way, but she would never allow me to protect her in that manner. The women in your life are a lot stronger than you think they are."

"She could die piloting Eva Kaji-san! Why does no one understand that?" Shinji barked with frustration.

"She could. But like you said, this is a war and humanity needs every available soldier," Kaji said while patting Shinji on the shoulder. Kaji walked away to let Shinji sort out his thoughts and emotions. Kaji sighed at the fact that the weight of the world rested on Shinji, he was too nice of a boy to be burdened with such a destiny.

X-X

"Both of them performed very well for their first times," Ritsuoko explained, "Nowhere near as good as Shinji or Rei on their first times, but it is still impressive that they were at least able to break the minimum threshold."

"Very good Dr. Akagi. Change Unit-02's bio signature to read Suzuhara's and we'll assign Horaki to Unit-03 once it gets here," Yui Ikari directed.

"Understood," Ritsuoko replied, "I've been wondering though, why are we keeping Asuka sedated? Her vitals are completely stable, all of her wounds have healed with no problem and her brain activity looks normal."

"The Second Child has become a liability to Nerv," Yui said without skipping a beat.

Ritsuoko was shocked to hear this. "How is that possible? What has she done that could warrant her to be a liability?"

"I cannot disclose that information to you Dr. Akagi. But the Second Child must never wake up."

"If she is to never wake up, then why don't we just kill her?" Ritsuoko demanded.

"Because I cannot simply order her execution," Yui said in a low voice. Even though that is what she actually wanted, she could not kill the Second child without raising alarm. "Leaving the child incapacitated is enough for her to no longer be a liability."

"I see…" Ritsuoko replied, "I will have the Maya input the necessary data to have Unit-02 changed over to Suzuhara."

"Good, ensure that it gets done."

Ritsuoko left the office in a brisk pace. She wasn't convinced that the Second Child had become such a problem that they had to keep her in a sedated coma. Yui had some reason to order the Second Child to be put in a coma. Ritsuoko's curiosity sprouted from the depths of her mind and slowly reached out to seek the light.

X-X

"Asuka-chan, would you like to come with mommy?" the woman asked the small red haired girl that she was holding in her arms.

"Yes! I want to go with mommy!" the young Asuka replied, "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere far far away where we can be happy."

"Is Daddy going to come with us?"

"No dear… He's going to stay here with his hussy doctor. It's going to be just you and me…"

"Why would Daddy stay with the doctor lady? It will be more fun if Daddy comes with us!"

"Well we can have just as much fun without Daddy, and we'll be happy. Trust Mommy, we'll be together forever, okay Asuka?"

"Okay… When are we going to leave Mama?" Asuka asked excitedly. She was eager to leave on this trip with her mother.

"We'll be leaving soon baby…"

X-X

Hikari sat in the simulation plug dressed in her plug suit, breathing in the odd LCL that allowed her to breathe while submerged. Hikari's plug suit was mostly pink with the suit's shoulders, elbows and area below her armpit was white. A large 03 was imprinted on the chest and the back. Hikari was initially embarrassed about wearing the suit, it hugged her every curve and left very little to the imagination. She had felt that she should be wearing an overcoat while walking around Nerv until she actually got into the plug. Touji being the pervert that he was couldn't stop staring at her when he first saw her in the plug suit. She couldn't help but think that she might as well be naked.

On the plug's screen was a red giant with four eyes in its head that Touji was controlling. Hikari's Eva was black with only two eyes and looked a little more human than her opponent's. The simulation plug's programs were based off of performance data that the Magi had collected from combat with the previous Angels. Unit-02 had some impressive specs that surpassed the original test data according to the Magi, and the Unit-03 that Hikari was using only had test data specs. Hikari wasn't worried though, she had already proven to the entire staff that she could outperform Touji on every test, and she planned to do it on this test as well.

Both Evas were only armed with a prog knife and had no umbilical cables in the simulation. They were both placed in a cubicle arena with four white walls surrounding them. A timer was set for 5 minutes at the top of Hikari's plug screen, the Evas would not move until the timer began. Hikari's palms sweated profusely in the plug suit as she gripped the control yokes tightly. The timer suddenly started along with her match against Unit-02.

Hikari decided to take the initiative to rush Unit-02. Unit-03 jumped in close and tried plunging its knife into Unit-02's cranium. Touji guided Unit-02 to block the attack, but he was caught off guard by a knee to the chest followed by an elbow to the back. The black Eva tried for another killing blow into the red Eva's back, but it rolled out of the way. As soon as Unit-02 created some space from Unit-03, it took its own turn to charge. Unit-02 came in range and threw two quick jabs followed by a slash with its knife. Hikari allowed the two jabs to hit Unit-03, she was more concerned about the path of the Eva's blade. Her head hurting from the two punches, but she successfully blocked the prog knife. The two Evas had their blades locked together, but Hikari and Unit-03 slowly overpowered Touji and Unit-02 through sheer will power. Unit-02 was pushed against a wall with nowhere to run. Unit-03 drove its prog blade into Unit-02's chest with 2 minutes still on the timer. The screen went blank and her plug opened up as it drained the LCL fluid.

"AAAHH… Man… I can't believe that I lost to a girl and the Class Rep of all people," Touji complained as he got out of the plug.

Hikari jumped out with a smirk on her face. "And what does me being a girl have to do with you losing Touji? You lost because you just suck at piloting compared to me."

Touji scratched the back of his head furiously. "Gah… Did you have to make me look so bad in front of Misato-san?" Touji said furiously and stalked to where Ritsuoko and Misato were. Hikari giggled and skipped over to the computer console.

"That was rather impressive Hikari. You have some good battle instincts and your score improved by .2 percent," Misato complimented, "Touji you let Hikari set the pace of the fight. You need to be more of a man and take initiative instead of just simply reacting to what your opponent does."

Touji lowered his head and accepted Misato's berating. Hikari was proud of the little progress that she was making with the pilot training. She was hoping that she would be battle ready by the time Unit-03 arrived to Japan.

Shinji walked into the simulation chamber calmly and his eyes met with Hikari's. They hadn't spoken to each other for a few days. She was hoping that by giving him some space, he would come to terms with it on his own. Hikari gave him a small smile that he didn't return at all. He quickly turned his attention towards Misato when she started talking to him.

"Shinji-kun what are you doing here today?" Misato asked, "I gave you and Rei the day off today."

"I know, I just wanted to see how Touji and Hikari's training is going," Shinji replied calmly.

Misato eyed him suspiciously. She knew that Shinji didn't approve of having Hikari as an Eva pilot, but she was showing a lot more promise than Touji. "Touji could use some more practice, but Hikari is doing very well," Misato said, "She should have no problem syncing with Unit-03 once it gets here."

"That's good to hear," Shinji said, but his voice betrayed the disappointment that he was trying to hide. "Would it be ok if I had a practice round against Touji and Hikari in Unit 02 and 03?"

"Hikari is doing well, but the two of them still wouldn't stand a chance against you," Misato said, "There's no reason for them to spar against you right now, maybe after they've had more training."

"We've never been able to predict when the Angels are going to attack," Shinji explained, "I need to know how good they are if we're going to work as a team."

"You don't need to worry about those details, as the tactical advisor, I'll be the one to worry about that."

"Lets do it," Hikari said, "I want a match against Shinji."

Touji looked over at Hikari with complete and utter shock on his face. "Didn't you just hear Misato-san? There's no point!"

"Stop being such a wimp Touji," Hikari said, "I want to see how much better Shinji is. I want to know how far ahead of me he is."

The jock let out a deep sigh of anguish. "OK fine… Lets do it then."

Misato began to calculate the possible outcomes. It was a gamble, but there was a chance that she could flip this in her favor. "Suit up Shinji," Misato said, "If they want to fight you, then I'm not going to stop them."

Hikari and Touji had devised a plan with Misato to beat Shinji. Since Hikari was the better pilot, the plan was for Hikari to hold Shinji's attention while Touji would try to flank Shinji. A lot of the plan depended on Hikari's abilities. She was nervous about having an actual fight against her boyfriend using the Evas. It could prove to be therapeutic to take out the aggression that she was having against him.

Shinji jumped into his own simulation plug with the data for Unit-01 loaded into the system. The simulation started up and the three Evas stood in a large arena with barriers, walls, and fake buildings scattered randomly throughout the arena. Weapon depots were located next to each Eva's starting position. It was decided that since Shinji had more experience piloting, it would be fair to allow Hikari and Touji Nerv's full array of armaments and allow Shinji the use of pistols and knives only. Hikari grabbed the rail gun and threw a shot gun on Unit-03's back. Touji grabbed a gatling gun, rocket launcher, and as much ammunition as he could carry. Their plan was simple. Hikari would engage Unit-01 with the rail gun at mid range and use the shot gun for close range combat. Hikari had no hope of fighting Shinji in hand to hand combat, so the shot gun was her best chance for survival. Touji would move into position with the heavy weapons and rain down hell when the opportunity presented itself.

Touji and Hikari both knew where Shinji's starting position was, and he knew where their starting position was as well. They already had seen how the arena was going to be laid out, so they had decided on a place that would be to their advantage. Shinji was already familiar with all the simulation maps, so he would be playing it by ear. Unit-02 and Unit-03 moved away from their weapon depots to get into position and wait for Shinji to find them. In this match, Unit-01 was the Angel and Unit-02 and Unit-03 were defending the Earth. Touji set up his heavy arms on top of a fake building and readied himself for Shinji's arrival. Unit-02 was in position for Unit-01's most likely route of entry.

Hikari saw Unit-01 on her monitor walking towards her just like they had planned. Unit-01 was armed with a prog knife in each hand, and most likely carried several other knives and pistols. Unit-03 sighted its rail gun on Unit-01 and took aim. Unit-01 broke into a sudden dash towards Hikari's position, Unit-03 squeezed the trigger and began firing upon the approaching Unit-01. Hikari had had very little weapons training, but Hikari just let the computer's targeting system lock onto Unit-01 and do all the work for her. Even with the aid of the computer, she still couldn't hit the approaching purple giant. Even when the computer adjusted its calculations to Shinji's speed and movement, Hikari had no luck hitting Unit-01.

Unit-01 seemed like it was running directly towards Unit-03, but it slowly drifted towards the fake building that Unit-02 was posted on. Touji saw his opponent within range and unleashed a barrage of rockets that bombarded all around the purple Eva and engulfed it in a blazing inferno. Unit-01 emerged from the explosions, and its speed had not been affected by the ordinance. Unit-01 started to run up the side of the building while not losing any speed. Its final step at the top of the building allowed for Unit-01 to jump high above Touji and Unit-02. Unit-02 had its gatling gun ready and began firing a hail of bullets at the air borne Eva. Unit-01 flew straight down on Unit-02 while deflecting the bullets with its AT Field. Shinji readied the prog knives that were in his Eva's hands and drove them into the back of Unit-02's neck as Unit-01 crashed into the red Evangelion's chest. Touji screamed in frustration and was out of the fight as his sim plug's system froze up.

Unit-01 left the prog knives in the back of slouching disabled Eva's neck and kicked off it causing it to slam into the ground. The purple Eva flew gracefully through the air. Hikari took this time to fire on the free falling Eva. Shinji forced Unit-01 to attempt to dodge the rail gun's projectiles, but still took a hit to its left shoulder. When the purple monster landed on the ground, its left arm hung limp and useless. Not waiting for Hikari to fire anymore shots, Unit-01 charged Unit-03 with its arm flailing behind it. The shoulder pylon opened up to reveal another prog knife that Unit-01 grabbed. Hikari decided that it was time to discard the rail gun in favor of the shot gun for close range combat. With a shell already loaded in the chamber, Unit-03 pulled the trigger while jumping back to create space. Unit-01 dodged the volley of pellets and as Unit-03 cocked the shot gun to load the next round, Unit-01 drove the prog knife home into Unit-03's cranium and the match was over.

Hikari sighed with disappointment as her screen went blank. Shinji had dispatched of Touji and Hikari so easily with nothing but knives. Hikari opened up the sim plug as the LCL fluid drained out of it and saw Shinji's plug opening up as well. Hikari hopped out and smiled to be a good sport about the practice session. Shinji still had on a serious face as both of them approached Misato with Touji sitting close by.

"I almost get killed every time I face an Angel," Shinji said with a stone cold stare at Misato. "If I can beat them both using only knives, then there's no way that they would survive a battle against an Angel. They're not ready." Shinji turned and walked out of the simulation without saying a word to anyone else.

After their unsavory defeat by Shinji in the Eva simulation, Hikari was still dressed in her plug suit and sat in the women's locker room brooding and moping about her current state of affairs. She was in love with Shinji, but she couldn't understand what she was doing wrong in their relationship. Shinji was supposed to be happy about Hikari becoming an Eva Pilot, and the two of them being able to spend more time with each other and piloting together. They would have found their own little restaurant that they visited after training and tests, random romantic gestures that took place in Nerv for other people to see. Hikari had played out so many different romantic scenarios in her mind. Hikari sneaking into the men's locker room to see Shinji in the shower, or Shinji sneaking into the women's locker room to see her changing out of her plug suit. Hikari's face turned bright red whenever she thought about those ecchi fantasies of hers. It should've allowed for her and Shinji to grow closer, like how he and Asuka had grown closer. Shinji and Asuka. It had a ring to it that made Hikari go crazy.

Hikari released a depressing sigh. "Maybe I am trying to take Asuka's place…" Hikari mumbled to herself.

"Why would you be trying to take Asuka's place?" a woman's voice said in the locker room. Hikari jumped at hearing another woman in the locker room, her face blushed in embarrassment for talking to herself while someone was listening. She looked around and saw Misato leaning against a locker with her hair and body wrapped up in towels. Hikari could easily make out the Captain's womanly body characteristics through the towel. Misato Katsuragi was a beautiful woman and could have easily been a swim suit model, but it always surprised Hikari that her ambitions had led her to be the Tactical Director of Operation for Nerv.

"Mi…Misa…to…san… I… didn't know… uh… you were there…" Hikari's voice was rattled with nervousness and embarrassment. "I was just thinking about the match against Shinji."

"That may be where your train of thought started," Misato said casually, "but you've definitely let your thoughts wander, and now you're comparing yourself to Asuka."

Hikari was too embarrassed to say anything intelligible to Misato. Misato strolled over to where Hikari was sitting and took a seat next to the teenager. "Why did you want to pilot Eva Hikari? You can tell me honestly, it's not going to make a difference one way or another. We're just two women talking."

"So that… I could be closer to Shinji," Hikari mumbled just barely audible for Misato to hear. "I want what Shinji and Asuka have while they're together." Hikari was rather ashamed for actually admitting that she was jealous of her best friend's relationship to her boyfriend.

"Shinji and Asuka's relationship is one of a kind…" Misato said, "Those two have a special understanding that no one is ever going to be able to attain. Asuka is always going to be someone special to Shinji no matter how much time goes by."

"So Shinji is in love with Asuka…" Hikari said on the verge of tears, "I'm just here to fill in for her."

"Shinji loves Asuka even if he refuses to admit it," Misato said, "But you don't ever have to doubt the way he feels about you. Shinji is not the kind of person to use you to fill in for someone who isn't there. He loves you for exactly who you are Hikari. I think that you're the one who's being self-conscious about comparing yourself to Asuka."

"… So should I quit being an Eva pilot to make him happy?" Hikari asked hesitantly.

"You are free to do whatever you want Hikari," Misato explained, "You are allowed to quit piloting Eva whenever you feel like. But humanity is fighting a war where we have a very limited number of soldiers that we can use. You are one of those soldiers Hikari. And whatever you do decide Hikari, do it because you're doing it for yourself, not because it's for Shinji's sake."

"Being by Shinji's side is for my sake," Hikari said firmly, "I don't want to sit by anymore and let Shinji bear the burden of the world on his shoulders alone. If I can be there to help him, then I want to."

Misato smiled at the light that twinkled in Hikari's eyes. "Never forget why you chose to fight," Misato said and left Hikari to go to her own locker. Hikari's heart burned with new found determination for realizing her purpose for piloting. She wouldn't let Shinji's foolish stubbornness to get in her way; she would fight the Angels, even Shinji to do what she needed to.

X-X

It was a dark day filled with grey clouds that threatened of an oncoming storm that Asuka's mind reached back to, a day that she did not like to remember. Asuka was standing in among a crowd of people in a large cathedral. The cathedral had a high domed ceiling with beautiful dove winged Angels flying among clouds, looking down on the people in the church, as if they were watching over their mortal wards. Stone column arches designed with intricate carvings of vines wrapping around the column reaching for the sky. Even in this beautiful church, the air was cold and stiff, filled with misery and sorrow. The large group of people dressed in black suits and dresses for mourning.

Asuka was also dressed in a black dress like everyone else, but she was not in the same mourning mood as everyone else around her. She glowered at the coffin with her mother's body lying inside of it. Asuka was a storm of emotions containing betrayal, sadness, anger, and hate; the storm raged in her heart, but her face displayed a stone cold exterior of animosity towards her now deceased mother. Kyoko had betrayed the young girl worse than anyone could have possibly imagined. She had hung herself in her own hospital room, but not before she hung one of Asuka's dolls that had bright red hair that resembled Asuka. None of the adults had realized it but, the vile woman had tried to kill Asuka with herself. It was fortunate that Kyoko had been so mentally unstable that she had mistook Asuka for one of her dolls. Sadness swirled with anger at being abandoned by the woman she loved and respected more than anyone in her life. How could Kyoko leave her daughter alone when Asuka depended on her for strength and courage? Anger led to hate for her mother making her feel weak and defenseless.

Asuka vowed to herself that she would never let herself to depend on anyone ever again. She would never allow anyone to make her feel like she needed any type of help, she couldn't count on anyone but herself. She needed to be strong enough to fend for herself in the cruel reality of the world; she would be brave to face the terrors alone. Being alone was the only way she could protect herself from the pain of being abandoned. She encased herself in a bubble of distrust and loneliness, and she was safe in her bubble and thrived.

But the bubble had not protected. A brown haired blue eyed boy had broken through her bubble with a needle of trust. The hole that was made by that needle had expanded the more she grew to know and trust him. The hole had now expanded to the point where he was able to reach his hand through the hole and reach her heart. Baka Shinji.

Asuka's eyes slowly opened to see the bare plain white walls of a Nerv hospital room. Even though she had felt like she had been sleeping for a long time, she still felt exhausted for some odd reason. Feeling something poking into her arm, she looked down and saw a thin tube connected to her arm, the tube was injecting her with some sort of liquid.

_What is this crap that they're pumping into my veins?_ Asuka thought with her mind in a haze. _This damn needle is making my arm itch…_

The grouchy German slowly reached over and timidly pulled on the hose and needle with what little strength that she had in her body. The needle came out slowly and painfully. After the needle fully cleared her vein, Asuka's hand didn't have the strength to hold her grip any longer and the needle clattered on the floor. Her consciousness was now fading quickly and she couldn't keep herself awake any longer, and she fell back into slumber. In her dreams she was surrounded by warmth from someone wrapping their arms around her protectively. When she looked up and saw who it was, she saw the brown haired blue eyed boy holding her tightly. She looked into his azure eyes and saw that he would never abandon her no matter what happened, no matter what she did to push him away. Baka Shinji…

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry that It's been such long time since I posted anything. I hope you didn't forget what happened in the previous chapters because I'm so slow with the updates. Damn holiday seasons and so many other things going. Busy busy busy... I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, please excuse grammar mistakes and typos (didn't proof read), and I'll try to update more often. Maybe not a chapter a week like I was when I first started, but no months between chapters. maybe...


	19. Trust

Chapter 19

"How did this happen?" Yui growled, "She was sedated wasn't she?"

"Yes she was, but her dosage was only enough to maintain her in a comatose state," Ritsuoko explained, "Anymore could have killed her. It's very possible that she developed a resistance to the sedative and woke up through pure will power alone."

Since their last meeting, Ritsuoko had thought long and hard as to why Yui would want Asuka out of the picture. The only connection those two had outside of Eva and Nerv was Shinji. It was no secret that everyone suspected Shinji and Asuka were in love with each other, there was a bet going on around the staff as to when they would actually start dating. But since Asuka was put into a coma, and Shinji started dating Hikari, everyone seemed very sullen with the entire idea of a bet. When Ritsuoko had first considered the idea, she was shocked that Dr. Ikari would be so petty. Shinji was the only family she had since her husband had passed away, and slowly everything made more sense to her. Ritsuoko wasn't thinking of defying Yui though, she stood on equal ground with Commander Fuyutski. But Ritsuoko did have a slight moral dilemma with Yui willing to throw away the value of a teenage girl.

"Well if she's is awake, then we might as well see if she is fit to pilot Eva," Yui said with a smirk, "Get her tested as soon as she is ready."

"What should we do with Suzuhara then?" Ritsuoko asked.

"Keep him around and make sure that he is ready to pilot if anything else should fall upon the Second child."

"Asuka will need at least a week to recover from the drugs to take an accurate assessment of her synch rate and harmonics."

"Very well," Yui said nonchalantly, "Do as you deem necessary."

Ritsuoko left Yui's office to check up on Asuka. Yui had obviously hatched another plan for a way to dispose of Asuka; she would need to keep a close eye on Asuka and Yui to make sure no serious harm befell the Second Child.

X-X

Shinji ran down the halls as fast as his legs would carry him. He wove through and around groups of people as he rushed towards in destination. In his haste there were several times that he almost bowled over other people, Shinji would give a quick apology while he ran past them and he would be gone before anyone could ever get angry at him. Shinji finally reached a door with a sign on it that read _A. Sorhyu_. The teenager stopped in front of the door and desperately tried to catch his breath. Shinji was so excited to finally see Asuka awake, he completely forgot about his manners and pushed the door open so hard that it threatened to come off its hinges. Shinji's face turned bright red and suddenly realized that he should have knocked before opening the door. Asuka's robe was pulled down to her waste, fully exposing her well endowed breasts and a nurse holding a sponge was scrubbing her back. Shinji froze in shock and terror as it dawned to him what he had done and what might soon follow. It took Asuka a moment to fully grasp the situation, but when she realized that Shinji was staring at her bare naked body, her face quickly matched her hair. One hand quickly moved to cover herself while the other reached for something to throw. She still had good instincts and reflexes, because the item that Asuka grabbed was a glass cup. Shinji was still ogling a half naked Asuka when the cup took flight and impacted on his forehead.

Shinji blacked out and dreamed of Asuka and Hikari taking a bath together in a shallow river with a waterfall washing their bodies. It was definitely something out of a porno that he had probably seen. He eagerly sat watching to wait for Hikari and Asuka to start making, but he started regaining consciousness. He quickly forgot about the dream when he noticed the throbbing pain pounding against the inside of his skull. When he became fully conscious, there was an icepack on his forehead and he had been laid on a bed. He took a look around the room, grimacing over his headache; he saw that Asuka was glaring at him from the bed next to him.

"Baka Shinji!" Asuka screamed, "Who the fuck do you think you are just walking into my room without even knocking? I would think that your mother had taught you better."

"OOOoooohhh…" Shinji groaned at Asuka's voice, "Not so loud Asuka, my head really hurts right now."

"I hope it hurts, only a small price to pay for seeing my naked body!"

Shinji chuckled to himself, "Naked or not, it's good to see you awake Asuka."

Asuka turned her face towards her window and said, "Baka Shinji."

Shinji sat up and rubbed his throbbing head. "Asuka… What do you remember before waking up?"

"Hhhmm… I remember that we deployed to fight that Goo Angel. And since we're all still here, I take it that you guys managed to defeat the Angel even though I was put into a coma. It's kinda hazy after that, but I remember seeing you in trouble. Something closing in around you and I acted, but I don't remember anything more than that. And since I'm the one who just woke up from a coma, which must mean that I saved your sorry ass."

"Thank you Asuka…" Shinji murmured just loud enough for Asuka to hear.

"Oh do my ears deceive me?" Asuka gloated, "The great Third Child is thanking me for saving his life? Well that should make us even for saving me from the volcano, but since I was put into a coma that means you still owe me." Asuka began to laugh arrogantly.

Shinji smiled weakly and said, "It was my fault that you were put into that coma, and I do owe you for it. If I hadn't acted so rashly then maybe you wouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place. I'll be more careful about it in the future."

Asuka sighed in disappointment, "You know you take all the fun out of things Shinji. I'm awake now and there's nothing wrong with me except for a few missing memories that I probably don't want anyways. So update me on current events, I've been out for like 6 weeks right?"

Shinji started to inform Asuka about Touji and Hikari being selected as Eva pilots. Hikari would be the primary pilot of Unit-03 that was almost completed and Touji was the back-up pilot for Unit-02 since Asuka was in a coma. Shinji didn't feel that it was important to tell Asuka that he and Hikari had started dating that time. Asuka was more than pissed about having to share her Unit-02 with Touji.

"Has that disgusting little pervert already piloted my Unit-02?" Asuka bellowed.

"There hasn't been an Angel attack since you were put into a coma, so I don't think he's actually piloted Unit-02 yet. He and Hikari have just been running the simulation plugs."

Asuka let out a breath of relief, "Thank god, hopefully I can get out of this bed before an Angel attacks and I will never have to share Unit-02 with that idiot. So are they good?"

"Touji's synch rate is getting close to 40%, and Hikari is a little higher than 40."

"That's my girl," Asuka said proudly.

"You don't have a problem with her piloting Eva? It's dangerous, she could get hurt."

"That is true, but I trust Hikari's abilities. She's a strong and smart girl, she'll do fine taking care of herself in an Eva."

Shinji pondered on Asuka's faith in Hikari. Asuka said that she trusted Hikari's abilities to pilot Eva, and did that mean Shinji didn't trust Hikari? It wasn't that he didn't trust Hikari; he was scared for her and didn't want anything to happen to her. But if Asuka was ready to trust Hikari, shouldn't Shinji also trust her as her boyfriend?

Asuka saw that Shinji was in deep thought. "You're already scared for Hikari and she hasn't even seen a battle yet? That is just so like you to try to be so chivalrous all the time. Don't worry about that, we'll be there to do most of the work anyways. Hikari and Wonder Girl will just be there to back us up."

Shinji smiled feeling a little bit more reassured, but he still had his doubts. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Asuka said to come in. The door opened to reveal Hikari wearing a simple white dress and she was holding a bouquet of wild flowers. When she saw Shinji sitting at the bed next to Asuka, her face went red and her eyes darted to the floor. Shinji didn't say anything either and turned away. Asuka noticed that strange behavior in her friends and examined both of them. Hikari stepped into the room and closed the door behind her and kept smiling at Asuka while trying to ignore Shinji. The young girl rushed to her friend in bed and gave her a great big hug from not having seen her awake in over a month.

"It's good to see you're awake," Hikari said, "I've missed you so much."

Asuka returned the hug to her friend. "I've missed you too, but it for me it feels like I just saw you yesterday."

The two girls giggled at the joke as Hikari wiped a tear from her eye. "I brought you some flowers. I'll put them in the vase for you."

"Thanks Hikari," Asuka said while Hikari grabbed the vase next to her bed and filled it with water for the flowers. Asuka noticed that the entire time, Hikari did not look in Shinji's direction the entire time and the Third Child was rather quiet since Hikari had entered the room. Once the flowers were in the vase, Hikari set the vase filled with water and flowers next to Asuka's bed. Asuka thought that there was probably something going on between them. But why were they not talking to each other?

"How are you feeling now Asuka?" Hikari asked, "Do you think that you'll be out of here soon?"

"I'm feeling great," Asuka boasted, "I feel like I've caught up on all the sleep that I had been depriving myself of. The stupid docs just want to keep me here to make sure my condition is stable and I should be out of here in a week or so. Maybe a little of rehab and I'll be back to 100%."

"That's great to hear," Hikari exclaimed, "Touji is absolutely hopeless at piloting Eva."

"I still can't believe that they chose that monkey to pilot MY Unit-02," Asuka growled in disgust.

"It's not like Hikari is that much better than Touji," Shinji said, "They would both be worthless in a real fight against an Angel."

"Oh yes, and we can all just depend on Super Shinji to defeat all of the Angels by himself!" Hikari shot back, "I'm sorry that I haven't been able to pilot Eva for the last 12 years like you two, but I'm doing the best I can so that I won't be a hindrance when I actually do deploy with Unit-03!"

"Even if you are eventually able to surpass me and Asuka, you can actually DIE out there!" Shinji's voice rose as he got worked up, "Do you think I would pilot Eva if I didn't have to? Those machines… or whatever they are… scare the shit out of me. But I have to pilot to protect the city."

"And why is it that you're the only one capable of doing that? If it was any other girl, it wouldn't be a problem, but because I'm your girlfriend..."

"STOP IT BOTH OF YOU!" Asuka screamed, cutting Hikari off. "You guys are dating?"

Shinji realized that he hadn't told Asuka about him and Hikari dating. "Yeah…" Shinji said.

"For how long?" Asuka asked.

"A little over a month," Hikari said, "When I saw what happened to you, I was scared that the same might happen to Shinji before I ever got to tell him how I felt."

Asuka chuckled. "So it took me getting into a coma for you to gather up the courage to finally tell him. Well I guess putting me into a coma was good for something," Asuka said, "And now you guys are fighting because Hikari became an Eva pilot and Shinji doesn't approve."

Hikari and Shinji both nodded at Asuka in unison. Asuka let out a sigh as she slowly shook her head. "Baka Shinji, Hikari isn't nincompoop. I would sooner trust her to watch our back than Touji. And if I can trust Hikari as her best friend, then you should be able to trust her as her boyfriend."

Shinji nodded in silent agreement and Hikari stood up a little straighter because Asuka had taken her side on the argument. Hikari's pride didn't last long though, because Asuka snapped her attention to Hikari as soon as she was done talking to Shinji. "Hikari, you should know how this Baka is. He doesn't want to see you get hurt. So you don't need to get mad at him for being worried about you," Asuka preached, "Well I'm getting tired now, and I feel like getting some rest."

Hikari and Shinji left the room together. Once they were outside of Asuka's room, both had many things that they wanted to say to the other, but didn't know how to go about it. They both avoided making eye contact and stayed quiet. It was Shinji that decided to break the silence.

"I'm sorry Hikari," Shinji said, "I was being over protective and not being considerate of what you're actually capable of. I was being stubborn and I didn't want to hear anything about you being a pilot. I'm just scared for you…"

"Thank you Shinji-kun. I know that you care about me and you're concerned about my safety, and I guess… that I did rush into this. But it was such a great opportunity for me to try and help you instead of helplessly waiting for you every time an Angel attacks. All I'm asking you to do is trust me."

Shinji didn't want to trust her, but he would for her sake. Shinji reached out to Hikari and gently pulled her close to him. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and pressed his cheek on the side of her temple. Hikari held onto Shinji tightly as well and accepted it as a sign of Shinji's trust.

"Don't ever think that you have to push yourself too hard," Shinji whispered in her ear, "I will always keep you safe."

X-X

Asuka rolled around in her bed unable to fall asleep. Her brain kept racking the idea of Hikari and Shinji finally dating. Asuka was happy that her best friend had finally gathered up the courage to tell him how she felt. It did bother Asuka a little that Hikari had confessed to Shinji while she was in a coma, but she was willing to overlook that this one time for Hikari's sake. Before she had tried to push Hikari to find someone better, at the time Asuka honestly believed that Shinji wasn't good enough for Hikari. There wasn't many guys that Asuka considered to be dateable, but she had thought that there had be hundreds that were better than the idiotic perverted mama's boy who tried to damn hard to make everyone happy. That had been a long grueling search for a mythical beast that didn't exist, and it had only pushed Hikari to like Shinji even more. Now Asuka understood that Shinji was as good as any guy got. He was nice, considerate, funny, talented, and selfless. He was stupid at times, but that usually was because he was trying to be nice. Asuka thought Shinji was only a little above average on looks, there were a plethora of better looking men, but Shinji was cute in his own way. And that was when it hit her like a brick, she was jealous of Hikari.

"How did this happen!" Asuka screamed into her pillow, "This isn't possible… Hikari is my best friend, and I've already come to terms with how I feel about Shinji. He is just someone… I respect… a good friend."

Asuka scanned through all of her memories of her and Shinji to try to understand how she could have possibly fallen in love with him. As she recounted all the drama she and Shinji had gone through together, she also remembered all the times that he had been there and helped her come to small and gradual terms with her own past. She was horrified to discover that she had actually been in love with Shinji for quite some time now and her pride had kept her from admitting those feelings. Asuka was disgusted. With herself or with Shinji, she couldn't say, but it was probably both.

Asuka sighed to herself. "I guess this is the price I should pay for my pride. My best friend ending up with the one man who could actually understand me," Asuka said to herself.

Asuka tried to go back to bed, but she was tormented by regret. It took her quite a bit of time to finally go to sleep and her dreams were filled with what could have happened if she had set her pride aside sooner. She and Shinji spending long days together, going on dates likes normal teenagers, arguing about trivial things, Shinji apologizing for silly things that weren't even his fault. It was the first time in a long time that Asuka had had such a pleasant dream, and she would be sorry when she had to wake up to reality.

Outside of Asuka's room, Rei had stood outside the door listening to Asuka prattle on about her true feelings for Shinji. Rei was glad that Asuka was finally awake, and she wasn't worried about Shinji and Hikari dating for too long. She knew that given time, Shinji would eventually learn what his true feelings were and she trusted that he would make the right decision. Hikari would be heart broken, but Rei figured that deep down inside Hikari knew as well.

Rei didn't bother trying to talk with Asuka, she already knew that the red headed German despised her. Rei's own personal feelings were somewhat mutual, but she was willing to try to make amends for Shinji's sake. As she was turning to leave, her cell phone rang. Rei answered it knowing what it was most likely about.

"Rei, an Angel's been detected," Misato said over the phone, "Report to the briefing room immediately."

X-X

All Evangelion pilots were present at the briefing, even Hikari and Asuka. Asuka sat in a wheel chair in the briefing chamber. She had fussed with the nurses about not needing a wheel chair to get around, but she had worn herself out trying to walk on her own and she reluctantly accepted the aid of the nurses and the wheel chair. Hikari and Rei sat in their chairs patiently waiting for the brief to begin. Shinji was feeling rather nervous because this would be the first mission in a while where he wasn't going to have Asuka to cover him. On top of that, he would have to look after both Rei and Touji. Shinji wasn't too worried about Rei, but she still didn't match up to Asuka. Shinji was hoping that Touji wouldn't panic and he could be left in the back with a long range rifle while Shinji would probably take care of the Angel at close range.

"This is the video feed that our satellites took of the Angel," Misato said to everyone in the room. The screen put on display a giant a black sphere with earth far below it and the stars seemed to be displayed crisply but still so far out of reach.

"Where is the Angel right now? That doesn't even look like it's close to us," Hikari asked.

"Its in the stratosphere at this moment, and it is descending towards our location," Ritsuoko said, "The Angel appears to be a giant bomb."

"Of course it would be coming here, where else would it want to go?" Asuka said snidely.

"The Magi have calculated that for the Angel to completely destroy Nerv headquarters, it will need to impact anywhere in this area," Misato said as the image of the Angel changed to an aerial view of the city with a large red colored in area covering almost the entire map.

"What are we going to do catch it as its falling?" Touji asked.

"Precisely!" Misato exclaimed, "After the Angel has been caught, we destroy the core and be done with it."

"Oh you make it sound so simple Misato-san, but how are three Eva's going to cover that entire area?"

"Simple…" Misato proceeded to explain the plan for the operation to the pilots. Slowly and surely she lost each one to a jaw dropping in disbelief, except for Rei of course. "The entire city is being evacuated as we speak. The three of you piloting should be safe if this operation should go wrong. Hikari, Asuka and the rest of the Nerv staff are to be evacuated as well. I will stay to take command and provide any support from here."

"Like hell I'm running away while the Baka leads these two to fight the Angel!" Asuka roared from wheelchair, arms flailing in anger.

Hikari stood from her seat and said, "Katsuragi-san, I also wish to stay. I trust that Shinji-kun, Suzuhara-kun, and Ayanami-san will succeed."

"You guys…" Misato was rather touched at their confidence in Misato's plan and the other pilot's capabilities.

"What is our chance of success anyways?" Touji asked.

X-X

Shinji laid in his bed that night and couldn't fall asleep. Shinji just kept thinking at how helpless he had been if Touji and Rei hadn't been there to support him. Shinji was the first to catch Angel falling from the sky and gave Touji and Rei enough time to reach the impact site and destroy the Angel. But if they had never come when they did, Shinji would've failed by himself. As he was holding the Angel up, it took everything in him to keep the Angel from crushing him. There was no room for Shinji to destroy the Angel without Touji and Rei to assist him. Shinji couldn't fight the Angels by himself, he would have to trust his fellow pilots if he hoped to protect those he held dear to him.

X-X

A/N: I didn't bother writing the battle against Sahaquiel because the anime and the Rebuild movies did such an awesome job. No point in reading a series of events that you guys already know how it pans out.

I wasn't going use Sahaquiel at first, but I racked my brain for days trying to create an Angel that I was pleased with. I came up with an invisible angel, but that was too easy to counter. A wolf pack with an Alpha as the actual Angel and three smaller wolves with partial cores, but that's too much like Israfel. An artillery angel that was going to bomb the city for like a week, but that one got complicated. And the list goes on. I hope you guys were at least content with drama in this chapter, I'm not going to half the other angels. I already have those battles planned out.


	20. You Can't Handle the Truth!

Chapter 20

After the doctors cleared Asuka for full duty, she went through a grueling week of rehabilitation. Her muscles had no atrophied much during her coma; she only had a minor problem with her stamina and getting tired easily. The doctors actually recommended another 3 weeks of rehab, but Asuka's temper made them agree that a week could pass for the bare minimum required. The medical staff was surprised at how quickly Asuka had recovered in one week. She still wasn't back to full strength, but she was good enough to go through an entire day and not get tired anymore. And as soon as she completed rehab, she demanded to Ritsuoko that she be allowed to perform a harmonics test.

There wasn't any way that she was going to allow Touji to pilot Unit-02 a second longer then was required. It was already bad enough that he had taken Unit-02 out on a mission against an Angel, but to allow any further tests with her precious Evangelion was unacceptable. So she was currently taking a harmonics test with Ritsuoko and Misato watching.

"Her sync rate has dropped 13%," Ritsuoko commented.

"Well she was in coma for 6 weeks, so I would say that 13% isn't too bad since her ratio is still over 70%," Misato said, "Do you think that her mind contaminated at all while Unit-02 was engulfed by that Angel?"

"It's a possibility," Ritsuoko said with a bit of guilt. She was worried that the sedatives she had used to keep Asuka in a coma had affected her in some way. "But if that was the case, I think we would've seen it in the neuroimaging while she was at hospital. And there was not abnormal brain activity at the time."

"I guess it could be some personal problems. She did find out about Shinji and Hikari dating after she woke up," Misato said sadly, "I had thought that she and Shinji would hook up, but the stupid girl wouldn't let go of her pride."

"I'm going to run some tests on her just in case. There's a lot about the Angels that we still don't know about," Ritsuoko said.

"Good idea," Misato said to Ritsuoko. "Ok Asuka we're done with the harmonics test for now. Your scores are still better then Rei and Touji, so we'll change Unit-02's settings to your bio signature," Misato said to Asuka over the com.

"Should we tell her what her scores were?" Ritsuoko asked.

"Yeah, she'll want to know either way."

X-X

Water rolled down the curves of Asuka's body as she leaned against the smooth white tiled wall with her hands and her head bent down. The water was almost scalding hot, but Asuka didn't, she liked the tingling burning sensation the water had when it touched her skin. Steam filled the shower room to the point that no one could see more than a couple feet in front of them. The heat made Asuka think that she wasn't alone, that someone was holding her tightly. She wanted Shinji to be holding her tightly, but she would never be allowed to experience that.

After Asuka had learned what she had given up, she couldn't stop regretting it, she couldn't stop thinking about him. Why couldn't it simply have been admiration or respect? That was what she originally thought these feelings were, and she had grudgingly accepted them. The fact that it was love made everything complicated, because Asuka had forgotten how to deal with love. She hadn't felt love for another person since her mother had killed herself. But now she was apparently in love with Shinji and she didn't have the first idea of what she was supposed to do. She wanted to rip these emotions out of her and go on living life as she had before. This was all just a troublesome burden.

Asuka finally turned off the water and started drying herself off. She quietly left the shower room and walked to her locker with sagging shoulders. When she turned the corner to get to her locker she saw Rei was getting dressed as well. Since Asuka hated Rei, she refused to let the First Child see Asuka in a slump. Asuka quickly picked herself up and walked to her locker how she usually did, full of pride and arrogance. Neither teen said anything to the other as they both got dressed. It was Rei who actually decided to crack the silence.

"I heard that you did well on the sync test today," Rei said a little above a whisper, "and that you're returned to full status. Congratulations."

"Hmph… What did you expect first? That I would allow that monkey to keep piloting my Unit-02 and have you two amateurs watch Shinji's back. It's a miracle that the Third made it out of that last mission alive while covering for you two."

"Yes, it was very brave of you to have thrown Shinji to safety and allowed yourself to be devoured by the Angel," Rei said in a serious tone.

"Are you mocking me?" Asuka snarled back at Rei.

"No, I was being serious," Rei said, "Shinji is very fortunate that you are back. If it had not been for Horaki, I fear what he possibly could have regressed to. He is much more animated now that you are awake."

"Regressed? " Asuka asked.

"While you were in the coma, Shinji wasn't dealing with the situation well," Rei explained, "He was visiting you every day and simply sat with you, he increased his training schedule to the point that I thought that his body might give out from exhaustion, and he was slowly and surely withdrawing himself from everyone around him. If it had not been for Horaki-san slowing down the process, I'm scared how he could've ended up."

Asuka was shocked at hearing this. She had never suspected that anyone would be so emotionally affected from something happening to her. She started feeling a little glad that Shinji had been so worried about her even though she had been a complete bitch to him right before. But that was just how the Baka was. She started to think that maybe if Shinji and Hikari ever happened to break to up that maybe she would get her chance.

"You're blushing."

The German had completely forgotten where she was and suddenly became flustered. "I wasn't blushing! I'm just still a little warm from the shower that's all," Asuka said.

"I see…" Rei said, "You know, you don't have to keep hiding it."

"Hiding what?" Asuka asked.

"The fact that you like Shinji," Rei said with a straight face.

Asuka could feel her heart suddenly stop and her face became deathly pale. "W… W… Wh… What are you t… ta… ta… talking about?" Asuka stuttered.

"Most of Nerv already knows," Rei replied, "Or suspects already that you and Shinji will eventually start dating. There is a bet going on among the staff if Shinji will either stay with Horaki-san or break up with her so that he can be with you."

"THAT'S ABSURD!" Asuka screamed, "Even if he did break up with Hikari to be with me, what makes him think that I won't throw him out on his sorry ass for hurting Hikari?"

"Shinji isn't aware of any of this," Rei said, "I said it is a bet among the staff. Personally, I believe that Shinji will eventually realize his true feelings and choose you over Horaki-san."

"What… you can't be serious…" Asuka murmured, "Shinji likes me? Likes me more than just as a friend?"

"Yes, but he is ignorant of his true feelings."

"He likes me… The Baka likes me…" Asuka said to herself. She was completely off in her own little world at this point. She thought that it was possible for her to not be alone any longer. She would actually have someone to share her life with.

"Asuka," Rei said in a serious tone, "I was a favor to ask."

Asuka snapped back to reality and scowled at Rei. "_You_, have a favor to ask me?" Asuka asked suspiciously.

Rei nodded her head. "I just ask that you don't run from Shinji or feelings just because of Horaki-san. You're an important person to Shinji, and it is vital for him that you stay by his side."

Asuka was taken back and a little offended. "Why would I run?"

"Because Horaki-san is your best friend and you wouldn't hurt her. Because I've seen you get scared from getting to close to Shinji. Because I know this is something new to you and you're scared to get hurt. I'm begging you," Rei said as she bent down on her knees and bowed her head, a position of Japanese humility. "Stay by his side and be his friend. Stay with him and help him through the hard times that have yet to come. In time he will realize his true feelings for you and both of you can be happy together." Tears were flowing freely from Rei's eyes.

Asuka felt guilty watching Rei bow before her and begging her to stay with Shinji. "Why are you doing all this? I know you care about Shinji, but why would you tell me all this and help me? I've been nothing but a bitch to you. Why?"

Rei looked up at Asuka. Rei's eyes were red and her face carried the expression of absolute sincerity and said, "Because Shinji's happiness is more important to me then our personal feud. And you are the only person I've ever met that can make him truly happy."

Asuka grabbed the rest of her stuff, closed her locker and headed for the door. Rei stayed where was and watched Asuka walk past her. Before Asuka left the locker room she said, "He's still not a good enough boyfriend for Hikari. Hikari is going to need me to help look after him and smooth out his rough edges."

X-X

Ritsuoko was performing full bio-scans of the Evas. Unit-01 was clearly the most powerful Eva in Nerv's arsenal, but the difference in power between Unit-01 and the other Evas was too great. The blonde scientist didn't understand how Unit-01 could so much more powerful when the three Evas were constructed in such a similar manner. There were obvious differences in how the Evas were built, but the base design that Dr. Ikari created should be the same. There was no normal explanation as to why Unit-01 stood so much higher than the rest.

The bio-scans of all three Evas were complete. Ritsuoko looked over the scans and there was something that she had never noticed before. All of the Evas where supposed to be designed after the first angel Adam. The rest of the tissue used for the Evas was synthetic material that was copied from Adam's tissue. However Unit-01 had 82.05% difference in the tissue used from the other two Evas. Unit-01 was made from something completely different.

Ritsuoko took the data on the tissue of Unit-01 and ran it through the Magi to find any matches. Only one match came up and that match was the first angel Adam. Unit-01 tissue material was composed of exactly 82.05% of the same materials that Adam was created from. For them to be that similar meant that in order to create Unit-01, they practically cloned Adam and the remaining 18% was the nerve connections used to control Eva. Ritsuoko was completely appalled by this discovery. Those arrogant bastards thought they could actually control an Angel? What could they possibly have planned for human instrumentality that they needed to clone an Angel to complete it?

Ritsuoko didn't have access to Adam's DNA, but she could easily compare the DNA of Unit-01 to the DNA of the other Evas and find the differences. Ritsuoko crossed analyzed the DNA patterns of all three Evas and removed all portions that were the same. On her screen she had three sets of double helix DNA strands revolving in place.

Hands suddenly grabbed Ritsuoko's shoulders and a voice said, "Rits-chan, come get a drink with me!"

Ritsuoko jumped in her seat and twirled around to see that it was Misato leaning in beside her. The scientist released a breath of relief. "God damn it Misato, don't sneak up on me like that!" Ritsuoko scolded.

Misato loved to sneak up on her friend when she was absorbed into something. It was always an easy to rattle the normally cool and composed Ritsuoko. "So what are you so engrossed in right now?" Misato asked.

"I'm looking at the DNA design for the three Evas and there are some discrepancies that I discovered."

"Like what?"

Ritsuoko showed Misato the three DNA strands and explained to her what she had discovered in Layman's terms knowing that anything too complicated would fly over her friend's head. Misato was completely shocked by what her friend had discovered and was horrified to realize what it was that Shinji was piloting.

"Who would actually think of doing this?" Misato raged.

"There are a few names that I can think of that could actually allow for this to happen," Ritsuoko said.

"The Commander and… You don't think… She would never…" Misato gasped.

"She is the director and creator of the Evas. If anyone could implement this crazy idea it would be her."

"But to let Shinji pilot this thing, how could she?"

"Not many people know Dr. Ikari's true colors," Ritsuoko said in a hushed whisper, "She is capable of much more than she lets people think. I can't tell you any details…"

"What do you know Rits?"

"I can't say… Not here at least," Ritsuoko murmured, "For now I'm going to copy these files and look at them at home. Nerv has an agenda that goes well beyond just exterminating the Angels."

X-X

Shinji and Asuka stood back to back and were surrounded by five men. The five men cautiously circled the two teenagers, carefully sizing them up and looking for a potential opening. This was a precarious situation for Shinji and Asuka to be surrounded and outnumbered, they had to be careful when deciding to attack, but they couldn't hope to win by using a turtle tactic. Since Asuka was typically the more aggressive of the two of them, Shinji waited for Asuka to make her move first and cover her accordingly.

Asuka shifted her stance slightly and this notified Shinji that she was ready to make dash for one of the men. Asuka quickly dashed towards one of the men and aimed to take him down with a single kick. The man was ready for her and was able to block the kick barely. Shinji had moved with Asuka, came up before the man had time to react and hit him with a left hook in the face and knee to his chest. This quickly dropped the man to his knees. The other four men acted as soon as they saw their comrade being attacked and rushed the two teenagers. Shinji kicked the closest one away and began blocking a juggle of punches and kicks from two of them. Asuka was able to sweep the fourth man, get back on her feet and drop a knee in his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Seeing that Shinji was being pushed back by the two bigger men, Asuka quickly came up behind one and threw an elbow into the back of his head. When the man noticed that his partners had been dropped, he turned his attention to Asuka. But as soon as he did that, he was hit by both teens from two sides and was quickly dropped. Three of the five men recovered by this time and rushed the two teenagers again, hoping to simply overpower them.

Hikari watched the sparing session from the side of the mat and was amazed to see how fluidly Shinji and Asuka were coordinated. To her it seemed as though one person was somehow controlling the two of them to act in unison. Even though neither one was really keeping an eye on the other, it was obvious that they were always aware of where and what their partner was doing. Hikari couldn't fathom how long they had to work together to have gotten to this point. She wondered if she was ever going to be able to fight alongside Shinji like that.

Shinji and Asuka finished up with their last remaining opponent easily and Sousuke walked onto the mat and called an end to the sparing session.

"Not bad," Sousuke said, "There were still openings that you two had that could've easily shifted the pace of the fight, but you guys are lucky that they didn't take advantage of it."

"It's never good job with you is it?" Asuka grumbled, "I think that this was our first sparring session together since I've woken up, I would say that we did pretty damn good."

"Asuka… shut up," Shinji barked, "It's his job to tell us what we need to work on."

Asuka turned bright red and exploded. "Who the fuck do you think you are telling ME to shut up? Baka Shinji! Just because I just woke up from a coma doesn't mean that I'm going allow such disrespect!"

Shinji groaned in frustration at Asuka's bellowing and hollering. He didn't sit by and take the berating though, he was able to interject and the shouting match quickly ensued. Hikari giggled a little at the irony of the situation. They had been working together on the sparring mat so well, but now they suddenly were having a huge argument about nothing. Hikari thought that it was nice that Shinji could actually show this side of himself to Asuka.

X-X

"Akagi has discovered that Unit-01 was cloned from Adam," a mysterious deep but soft voice announced. No one could possibly discern if the voice belonged to a man or a woman and they were completely enshrouded by shadow so their face was completely hidden.

"Has she discovered the code?" Yui asked.

"As far as I could tell, she doesn't fully realize what she has in her hands yet. But she has taken the data home to examine it further."

This presented a problem to Yui. She had classified the Adam DNA samples years ago, but she could not restrict the inspection of Unit-01's DNA. It might be possible to configure the Magi to bring up a different DNA scan whenever they did scan Unit-01, but Ritsuoko would know how to fix the Magi of that problem. The only other option was to eliminate Dr. Akagi.

"Has she informed anyone else of this?"

"Only Katsuragi, she happened to walk in on Akagi while she was studying the DNA model."

Yui cursed to herself. It would be rather troublesome to get rid of Katsuragi since she was extremely good at her job. There were other tactical officers available, but none of them had the drive and experience that Misato carried. Yui could just put her money on the children, but she wasn't sure how well they would fair without Misato's guidance. If Ritsuoko was eliminated shortly after finding the Adam DNA, then Misato would surely raise questions and start to investigate. And knowing Misato, she would find the truth no matter how many obstacles were put in her path. Unless…

"Have Dr. Akagi closely watched. If she happens to stumble onto the Dead Sea Scrolls, retrieve the data and kill Dr. Akagi. As long as she doesn't discover the scrolls, do nothing."

"You have something in mind?"

"Yes and her death will seem like nothing but an accident…"

"Yes ma'am…" The voice said as the figure outlined in the shadows faded away.

X-X

Hikari organized for all the Eva pilots to go out together to celebrate Asuka coming out of her coma. Hikari had tried to ask Misato and some of the other Nerv staff if they wanted to come out as well, but they had politely declined saying that they were busy with other work. Misato even went as far as pushing money onto Hikari to ensure that they had a good time. Hikari had tried to refuse it, but she ended up taking since Misato wouldn't take no for an answer. Misato said that it was her way for thanking all of them for accepting such a heavy responsibility and for constantly being put in harm's way. It wasn't fair that they weren't allowed to live normal teenage lives.

The group had decided to meet up at the train station and go to a karaoke studio from there. At the karaoke studio they had a nice large room that fit the 5 pilots comfortably and gave them plenty of room to move about. They ordered tons of food, sodas and juice; Hikari even brought out a cake with 'Welcome Back Asuka' written on it.

"I appreciate that Asuka is awake and that I don't have to pilot Eva anymore. I really do," Touji said, "But no one here can deny how peaceful it was while Asuka sleeping."

This brought some chuckles from everyone except Asuka, "Now that I'm back you stinking meat head, I'll be sure to make your life especially miserable!" Asuka bellowed.

"Bring it on you bitch!"

The taunting between Asuka and Touji went on for a little longer and everyone got a good laugh at their expense. It was Hikari who ended the battle by quickly grabbing Asuka's attention and asking her what song she wanted to sing. Touji was so angry that he sat down in a chair and started drinking a soda and didn't say a word to anyone for almost 15 minutes.

"I don't really care," Asuka replied to Hikari, "Why don't you sing the first song for us Hikari?"

"Ummm… Sure," Hikari replied. Her eyes went down and quickly picked out a song and programmed the song into the machine. The song that Hikari picked out was a popular J-pop song that was number one on the charts a few months ago. A quick paced love song that everyone was able to get into and sing along with. After Hikari it was Touji who had requested the next song and took the mic from Hikari. Touji sang a Japanese punk rock that everyone knew, but no one knew the words to. The young jock was extremely enthusiastic with the song and even started to air guitar along with the music. Everyone was actually impressed with how well Touji could sing.

"Hey Shinji, you should try singing a duet with Hikari. It would be cute," Asuka said with a mischievous grin on her face.

"I'm not really too good with singing Asuka," Shinji muttered, "I'd much rather just sit here and watch everyone else sing."

"Oh that's bullshit!" Asuka exclaimed. Asuka quickly grabbed the karaoke machine's remote control and input a song. "You should know this song, everyone else in Japan does."

When Shinji looked at the title of the song he nodded. "I know it. But like I said, I don't really sing."

"Well you're going to sing this one!" Asuka demanded.

Shinji just sighed and agreed with her. There was no point in trying to weasel himself out of this one when Asuka got this stubborn. She and everyone else would just have to find out the hard way. When Hikari finished with her song, Shinji didn't move from his seat to take the mic from Rei. He was hoping that someone else would recognize the song and want to sing it themselves. No one volunteered to save Shinji from embarrassing himself. Asuka got up and picked up the two mics in the room and tossed one to Shinji. The worried teenager caught the mic easily enough and stared at Asuka with a confused expression on his face.

"I'm going to sing the song with you, since you're god damn pussy," Asuka said and motioned for him to step up.

Shinji sighed and got up from his seat to stand by Asuka.

Shinji began singing the first verse of the song, "Zankoku na tenshi no youni shounen yo shinwa ni nare…"

Shinji was horrible at singing. Touji and Hikari had absolute shock written all over their face, but they said nothing. Asuka and Rei were the only ones that had straight faces. When the second verse came up, Asuka started singing and she sounded melodious compared to Shinji. Shinji didn't bother to sing along with Asuka and was about to go back to his chair, but as soon as he moved, Shinji felt an iron grip on the back of his neck. He looked back and saw Asuka glaring at him, and from what Shinji was able to understand the look said that if he didn't sing along right that second he was going to pay dearly for it. Shinji quickly lifted to mic to his mouth and sang along with Asuka as best he could.

Shinji wasn't able to sing nearly as well as Asuka but he was able to slowly figure out what the correct tone and pitch that he was supposed to be singing with. As they continued singing together, Shinji wasn't sounding as horrible and he was actually getting into it. Towards the end of the song, the duo instinctively started doing a coordinated hand gestures that went with the lyrics. The rest of the group got into it as well and were clapping along with the beat. When Shinji and Asuka finished the song, their final pose was with their arms on each other's shoulder while laughing and smiling.

Everyone stood and applauded the end of the song. Shinji had a smile that covered half his face and sweat covering the other half, and when Asuka saw how happy he looked her heart started to flutter and she realized how close together they really were. Her face quickly matched her hair and she quickly put the mic down and left the room to get some air. She hurried to the bathroom and splashed water on her face to try to get herself to calm down. Her body could still feel where Shinji had actually been touching her, her body was so burning so hot that she would've been willing to strip down in the bathroom just to cool off. When Asuka's heart finally slowed down with the rest of her body she stepped out of the bathroom and found Hikari approaching the bathroom.

"Asuka… Are you alright?" Hikari asked.

Asuka could barely look at her face. She felt so ashamed about what she was feeling that she didn't know how to respond. "I just needed to some air," Asuka said, "That song just got me so pumped up that I thought I was going to have a heat stroke." She tried to follow the statement with a laugh, but it ended up coming out rather pathetically.

"You love him don't you…"

The German could feel her heart drop to her stomach. "Huh? Love who?" Asuka replied nervously.

"Don't fuck with me Asuka! It's hard for me as it is, I don't need you to pretend to me too!"

Asuka would've never expected such a response from her friend who was supposed to be a quiet and timid girl. "What do you mean hard for you? You have the guy of your dreams in the palm of your hand. You two are the happiest little couple I've ever seen."

"I am happy to be with him… I'm happy spending every moment I can with him, and Shinji is such a great guy that he tries so hard to make me happy. I know that he's trying to love me, but it's so hard when you two are together and I know that deep down he doesn't love me!" Hikari was on the verge of tears, but she was holding them down. There was anguish scrawled across her face.

"Yes… I do have feelings for him…" Asuka said and released a sigh. "It's funny… Everyone else noticed it before me. But please don't think that I would ever try to steal Shinji away from you Hikari. You're a precious friend and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I ever did that to you. For right now, Shinji and I are… good friends."

"I'm an Eva pilot, but everyone is still trying to protect me…" Hikari mumbled audibly and sat down on the floor. "Is there ever going to be a day that I'm not going to be shielded from something?"

"You should be grateful that there are people that want to try so hard to protect you. It's because we all love you Hikari, that we don't want to see you get hurt," Asuka said while stretching out a hand to help her up. "Come on, let's get back. Everyone is gonna start wondering what we're doing."

Hikari accepted Asuka's hand and they walked back to their karaoke room. When the two girls got back to the room Rei was singing a soft love song and they were absolutely shocked at how beautiful Rei's singing voice was. It was like listening to a Sunday church choir. Touji and Shinji were both staring with theirs jaw dropped. When Shinji saw that Asuka and Hikari had returned from the bathroom he smiled and waved at the two girls. Hikari went over to her boyfriend and snuggled next to him while listening to the song. Asuka saw and thought the couple was a perfect match for each other, better than her and Shinji. Her heart began to ache when she thought about it, but she pushed down those feelings and forced herself to ignore them. Returning to her seat, Asuka enjoyed the rest of Rei's song.

…_I know that I can't have you,_

_But that doesn't keep me from wanting you,_

_When I see you look at her,_

_I wish that you were looking at me,_

_Whenever you're holding her,_

_I want that to be me,_

_And if I could,_

_I would bury these feelings,_

_But they always comeback up whenever I look at you,_

_Hear you or even when I'm around you,_

_I would push you out of my life,_

_But I wouldn't be able to live without you in my life._

Asuka's heart was so moved by the song, that she didn't even realize that she had started tearing up. When she felt wet tears rolling down her cheeks, she cursed at herself and tried to wipe the tears away without anyone noticing. The embarrassed German quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed and ended up making direct eye contact with Shinji. He had a smile on his face, not a victorious smile that would've expected Asuka to think that Shinji would make fun of her later, but an understanding smile.

Shinji gently leaned over to Asuka without disturbing Hikari's position and said, "I'm glad to finally see this side of you. And you don't have to be embarrassed from enjoying a love song. Right now we're not Eva pilots, just some high school kids having fun. And high school kids fall in love."

The rest of night went on and Asuka wasn't able to say two words to Shinji without choking on them first. She made her attention was constantly occupied with anyone other than Shinji. Hikari was happy to chit chat with Asuka, but it was a problem when her attention turned to Shinji and Asuka was forced to try talking to either Rei or Touji. Rei would talk to her, but her responses were short and brief as usual. Touji was still upset at Asuka and was rather reluctant to talk to her. So the red-head was forced to sing as many songs as she could fit in until her voice starting giving out.

They finally got the call from the front desk saying that their time was almost up. The group left the karaoke studio and went to a family restaurant to grab some food before heading home. Asuka was happy that her voice was dead, because now she wasn't expected to talk to anyone in length. Instead she could just sit back and enjoy the company of her friends.

It was after the meal that Hikari decided to make an announcement to everyone. "Next Thursday is the scheduled activation test of Unit-03 and it's also my birthday!" Hikari exclaimed to everyone. "I'd appreciate it if we could all go out together as fellow Eva pilots to celebrate my birthday and hopefully my successful activation of Unit-03!"

Rei silently nodded in approval and said, "I would enjoy that very much."

Touji leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head. "Sure class rep, just rub it in my face that I'm the only one without an Eva."

Shinji's face briefly flashed with worry, but regained its smiling composure, "You're going to do fine on the activation test. So we just need to worry about what to do for your birthday."

Asuka smiled at her best friend and nodded. Asuka would do everything she could to make it Hikari's best birthday ever.

X-X

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed seeing Asuka throw away her pride and squirm around. I think I'm playing Shinji into the ignorant nice guy a little too much, but I think it's necessary for what I'm planning. Next chapter will be the long awaited activation of Unit-03!


	21. Rage

Chapter 21

Hikari's hands were sweating and she couldn't stop herself from fidgeting with anything that she could get her hands on. Her heart was stomping around in her chest so loudly that she thought it was echoing throughout the plug. Her plug suit felt like it was constricting her body and she kept pulling at it in an attempt to make herself a little more comfortable. Even though the simulation plugs that she had been practicing in almost every day were modeled after the actual plugs used inside Eva, the plug that she was currently in felt strange and alien to her. The LCL in the plug seemed intrusive and difficult to breath. The young teenager had tried just about everything she could think of to get herself under control, but she might as well have been trying to ride a wild horse.

Dr. Akagi spoke through the com system, "Hikari, are you alright? You're heart rate is a little elevated."

"I'm just a little nervous," Hikari responded in a shaky voice.

"There's nothing to worry about Hikari," Misato said in a soothing voice, "The simulation plug that you've been practicing in was modeled to operate as if you were actually operating Unit-03. You're gonna do fine."

"Ok…" Hikari said trying to sound confident.

"We're going to start the activation process soon Hikari," Ritsuoko said, "Are you ready?"

"Yes!" Hikari yelped.

Ritsuoko started typing commands into the computer to prepare the activation test. As Ritsuoko was typing on the keyboard she asked Misato, "Isn't today your day off? Did they call you in for the activation test?"

"Nah… I just came to show Hikari some support. Yui wouldn't let Shinji ditch school to be here at the activation test, so I thought I would try to help Hikari through the activation. What about you? Doesn't Dr. Ikari usually take charge of the activation tests?"

"She is the head scientist for everything involving the Evas, but she had some other stuff to take care of today and she asked me to oversee today's activation."

Misato nodded in understanding, then leaned over to Ritsuoko and whispered, "Have you found anything about Unit-01 being cloned from Adam?"

"Not much. There's something strange about the DNA pattern, but I'm not exactly sure what it is. This would go quicker if I could just run the DNA scan through the MAGI, but that would raise bells."

"Angel DNA resembles our own doesn't it?"

"Yes, but there's something in there that none of the other Angel's had encoded in their DNA. I'll tell you more about it once I find out more," Ritsuoko said and then turned on the mic to Unit-03. "Alright Hikari, we're about ready to start."

"Something doesn't feel right in here…"

Ritsuoko looked over the computer's diagnostics of Unit-03. "Everything looks normal Hikari, there are no abnormalities."

"Did you want to postpone the activation?" Misato asked.

"No! No, that's fine. I'm probably just imagining it."

Hikari took in a deep breath and released. _Get yourself together! I've been working hard for this day! I just need to calm down and relax._ Hikari started focusing on trying to sync with the Eva like she had practiced. As she focused on synching, she noticed there was inUnit-03 that was never in any of the simulations. Shinji had told her once that whenever he pilots Unit-01, he would impose his will on the Eva and force it to obey him. Asuka had never mentioned anything like that when she piloted Eva; she explained it more as connecting with Eva on a mental level. Perhaps this strange feeling in the plug was what it was supposed to be like to pilot an actual Eva?

When she tried to reach for the Eva with her mind, she heard children giggling all around her. Hikari's eyes popped open and found that she couldn't move. She tried to scream, but no sounds would come out from her mouth. The giggles around her started to grow louder and louder all around her. They weren't coming from anywhere inside the plug, but inside of her mind. She could slowly feel something seeping into the depths of her conscious and synching with her. The Eva was trying to take control. Hikari desperately tried to fight back to regain control of her body, but her conscious was just being pushed down. Darkness began to envelope her, and right before the darkness completely consumed her, she thought _Shinji… I'm so sorry…_

X-X

Shinji was frustrated and couldn't focus on the class. He had a huge argument with his mother the night before, because she wouldn't allow him to be present at the activation of Unit-03. He was certain that she would complete the activation test with no problems, but it irritated him that he wasn't there. He was so focused on his thoughts, and being upset at his mother's stubbornness that he didn't realize what was going on around him. He was snapped back to reality by a palm striking his desk.

"Baka third, stop worrying about the activation test," Asuka scolded, "Hikari will do fine whether you're worrying about it or not. So there's no point in fretting over something that you have no control over."

Shinji smiled at Asuka. He could always trust Asuka to slam him back down to reality whenever he needed it. "Yeah, you're probably right..."

"Of course I'm right Baka!" Asuka snapped, "Do you actually think I wouldn't know what I'm talking about?"

Shinji smiled at Asuka and said, "Of course not! You're the Great Asuka Langley Sorhyu."

Asuka smirked at Shinji and said, "Well since Hikari isn't here and you're moronic friend is off doing other things, let have lunch together." It took Shinji a moment to figure out if it was a command or a request. And Shinji figured that it was a request that Asuka expected to be accepted.

"Sure," Shinji replied cheerfully.

The two teenagers decided to eat lunch on the rooftop. They were the only two up there for the lunch hour. Shinji and Asuka settled on sitting near the gate that enclosed the rooftop area, both of them sat down and leaned against the chain link fence and pulled out their respective lunches. Shinji pulled out his bento that he made for himself, Rei and his mother every morning. The boy was a little surprised to see Asuka pull out a convenience store bento that didn't look very good or healthy.

"Asuka, what is that?" Shinji asked.

"What does it look like baka?" Asuka replied with an irritated look on her face, "It's my lunch."

"Well it looks like crap. Is this what you've been eating since you moved in with Misato?"

"Pretty much, lots of instant food and convenience store bentos. It's actually pretty good," Asuka said and started stuffing her face with rice and meat.

Shinji frowned at Asuka and said, "You shouldn't be eating so much of this junk food, all the sodium and cholesterol is bad for you. That's probably why you've been gaining a little…"

Asuka stopped eating immediately and glared at Shinji. "Gaining a little what Third!" Asuka growled.

Shinji coughed and cleared his throat before speaking, "Nothing… But from now I'll start making your lunches for school."

Asuka nearly choked on some of the rice that she had in her mouth. "You don't need to go through the trouble Baka. I'm fine with this stuff."

"Don't worry about it Asuka, I already make lunches for myself, Rei, and my mother. All I would be doing is using some extra ingredients so there's enough for a fourth person."

Asuka lowered her chopsticks and put down her bento and watched Shinji eat his lunch. Shinji was completely oblivious to what he had done to Asuka. Asuka's stomach started to fill with butterflies and she wasn't hungry anymore. She was extremely annoyed at everything that very moment, annoyed that she lost her appetite and annoyed at Shinji. She quickly threw her lunch back into the plastic store bag and stood up to leave.

"Asuka, where are you going?"

"I'm not hungry anymore. I'm going back to class."

Shinji quickly sprung to his feet and went after Asuka. He was able to grab her wrist before she made it to the door. "What's wrong Asuka? You always run away when something you can't handle is bothering you. You can talk to me about it."

Asuka tried to rip her arm away from Shinji, but his grip was too strong for her to break. Her heart was pounding so hard that she could feel the blood being pumped through her veins all throughout her body. Her eyes were getting watering as she desperately tried to hold back the tears. But she couldn't take it anymore, and something in her brain just snapped.

"IT'S YOU GOD DAMN IT! You're the fucking problem Ikari Shinji!" Asuka screamed as tears flooded down her cheeks, "I can't take it anymore! You're always so damn nice to me all the time and it only makes it harder and harder for me to be around you! Why can't you just be like everyone else and just be a dick to me instead! If you were like that then maybe I wouldn't have these stupid feelings that I keep trying to hide from everyone and myself! "

"Asuka… We're friends. Why would you need to hide that from anyone?" Shinji said with a smile.

"That's what I thought they were at first. You're the first real friends that I've ever had that actually understands me and cares about me, but it isn't friendship that I want from you. I want you Shinji, I love you..."

Shinji was speechless and his mind was still trying to grasp what Asuka had said to him. It wasn't something he ever expected to hear from her mouth, not towards himself at least. In the short time that Shinji had known Asuka, she had become his closest friend and found a way into his heart without him realizing it. It was true that he had special feelings for Asuka, but could he really say that it was love?

Shinji opened his mouth trying to say something, anything to end the silence between them. But before he could even work the words out of his mouth, they were interrupted by both of their cell phones ringing.

X-X

"Unit-03 is an Angel? What happened to Hikari? Is she alright?" Shinji demanded.

"Her status is unknown. The Magi recorded that her plug ejection was activated," Maya replied, "But we have no idea what happened to her after that."

"Where's Major Katsuragi?" Rei asked.

"For some reason she was at the activation site and we haven't been able to reach her since," Commander Fuyutski said, "I will be taking command of the operation in her place."

Fuyutski looked around the room to see if anyone had any objections, but if they did they weren't going to voice it and they weren't showing it either. Fuyutski turned to a map of the area that showed a red dot slowly moving towards their direction.

"The Magi are tracking the blue pattern that is being emitted from Unit-03. We will meet Unit-03 at this mountain pass, located here," Fuyutski said as the map zoomed in on the range of mountains. "Unit-03 is moving slowly, so we'll have time to set up all three Evas at this location. Shinji will engage Unit-03 in Unit-01 and hold the target's attention. Unit-00 and Unit-02 will flank Unit-03 as its attention is held on Unit-01 and destroy the target."

"What if Hikari is still inside Unit-03?" Shinji asked.

"If Pilot Horaki is still inside the Eva, we will make an attempt to retrieve her. But if the attempt fails, you will continue with destroying Unit-03. Killing the Angel is our highest priority, saving Pilot Horaki comes second."

"How can you say that!" Shinji hollered, "She's a person! We're just going to kill her just because it's inconvenient to save her!"

"Those are your orders!" Fuyutski said so loudly that made everyone in the room jump, "Get prepared to launch."

Fuyutski got up and left the room. Shinji's knuckles were bone white as he watched the Commander leave. He suddenly slammed his fist on the table and screamed, "This is bullshit! They can't expect us to just kill Hikari!"

Shinji felt a hand rest on each of his shoulders. He looked up to see Asuka and Rei standing beside him. "We won't let anything happen to Horaki-san," Rei said.

"She's my friend too, of course we're going to save her," Asuka said.

Shinji looked at Asuka and he was suddenly reminded of the confession she had dropped on him right before they got the call from Nerv. Asuka was a true friend to him, but his emotions suddenly became confused when she had confessed to him. Shinji would give her a straight answer, but for right now, they needed to go save Hikari.

It was the first time Shinji had seen Asuka and Rei in accordance on anything and it made him smile. He suddenly felt very confident that everything was going to work out since he had Rei and Asuka backing him up. Shinji stood up from his seat and faced the two girls.

"Let's do this," Shinji said, it was the most serious he had ever been about anything in his entire life.

X-X

All three Evas were in position, Unit-00 and Unit-02 hiding in the forested mountains and Unit-01 waiting in the middle of the pass. The sun was beginning to set in front of him, and he could see a single figure moving towards him in the distance. A dark figure that walked towards his location, moving calmly at its own pace. The black armor of Unit-03 gleamed in the light of the setting sun, it appeared more menacing than what Shinji had imagined. Unit-03 stopped walking, it stood a full kilometer away from Unit-01.

"I see something sticking up from the back of Unit-03's neck," Asuka said, "I think it's the plug, but it's covered in some nasty looking blue shit."

"It must be the plug, we're going to have to cut it out in order to release her," Rei said.

"Ok... I'm ready to eng..." Shinji said and trailed off when Unit-03 suddenly leapt into the air. Unit-03 was airborne, but by looking at its trajectory it wasn't going for Shinji in Unit-01.

"Rei look out!" Shinji screamed.

Unit-03 landed on all fours like an animal in the exact spot that Unit-00 was hiding. Rei barely had any time to dodge the Eva, she narrowly rolled away and quickly stood her Eva up. She discarded the rifle that she was carrying and drew her prog knife. The two Evas engaged in combat, and Unit-02 and Unit-01 ran as fast as they could to Unit-00's location. All of Rei's attacks were aimed for Unit-03's arms and legs. She didn't want to cause any serious injury to Hikari inside the Eva, and she hoped to reduce Unit-03's mobility and fighting capabilities. But Rei wasn't able to land a single strike on Unit-03, and she was taking heavy damage from the infected Eva. Unit-03 suddenly grabbed Unit-00's left arm and snapped the bone, Rei screamed and Unit-00 fell to the ground. Unit-03 mounted the fallen Eva and began pummeling it with punches.

"Rei!" Asuka screamed as she approached the two the Evas. Unit-02 jumped into the air and kicked Unit-03 directly in the face, knocking the Eva off of Unit-00. "Rei are you alright?" Asuka asked.

There was no response from Rei in Unit-00, and Unit-03 was quickly recovering from the kick to the face. Unit-02 rushed Unit-03 before it got a chance to get back on its feet, and kicked the infected Eva in the face again that sent the Angel flying back. The Angel flew back and landed on its face. Asuka ordered Unit-02 to draw it's prog knife and pounced on Unit-03's back. She was about to begin cutting the entry plug when Unit-03's shoulder pylons exploded, revealing a second pair of arm. Before Asuka could react, the arms grabbed Unit-02's neck and threw the Eva off. Unit-02 went flying through the air and crashed into the mountain side. Unit-03 quickly pursued the crimson Eva, but Unit-01 crashed into Unit-03 before reaching Asuka.

The two Evangelions rolled on the ground for a little and Shinji managed to grab onto the plug and started pulling it out. A pair of arms grabbed Unit-01's neck and forcefully pulled him away while another pair started pummeling him in the face. Shinji lost his grip on the plug and was forced to let it slip from his fingers. Unit-01 grabbed for the hands that were wrapped around his neck and desperately tried to loosen the grip around his neck. Shinji suddenly saw a flash of red and the black Eva released its death grip on Unit-01. Shinji noticed that Unit-01 was being held up by Unit-02.

"You ok Shinji?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah I think I'm fine..." Shinji said. His was spinning a little from the pummeling he had taken, he was recovering.

"Pilot Ikari... Pilot Sorhyu..." Fuyutski said over the com, "You are to desist from attempting to rescue Pilot Horaki and commence destroying Unit-03."

"We will not! We can still save her!" Shinji screamed.

"The original plan has backfired, Unit-00 is out of commission and we cannot risk further damage to Unit-01 and Unit-02."

"Go fuck yourself Commander! If that's the case, then I'll die saving her..." Shinji said and cut off his communication to Nerv. "Asuka turn off your communications to Nerv. We can save Hikari without their help."

"Shinji..." Asuka said and suddenly started laughing, "I never thought that you had it in you.." Asuka turned off her communication to Nerv as well, "They're going to give us hell when we get back."

"Fuck them," Shinji said in a cold tone, "They want us to kill Hikari." He could feel his blood boiling and anger rising as he thought about the order. Shinji couldn't stop himself from thinking about the ordered that enraged him so, and the more the thought about it the flames of anger continued to be fanned.

"Let's do it..."

Both Evas charged Unit-03. Unit-01 stepped in ahead threw a few quick jabs and a hook while Unit-02 side stepped around to deliver a roundhouse. Unit-03 took all the hits, but was completely unfazed. The black Eva kicked Unit-01 square in the chest and knocked him back and turned his attention on Unit-02. Unit-03 attacked Unit-02 with all four of its arms, Asuka couldn't defend against them and quickly fell into Unit-03's pace.

When Shinji got up, he was still a little dazed from the kick he had received. He searched for Asuka as he gathered himself and saw that Unt-02 was getting pummeled by Unit-03. Unit-01 quickly got to its feet and ran to where Asuka was. Unit-03 saw Unit-01 charging and grabbed up Unit-02 by the neck with one hand and threw a punch with one of its other arms at Unit-01. Shinji saw the punch coming and ducked under it strike at Unit-03's abdomen. After landing the first blow, Unit-01 commenced to continue pummeling Unit-03. Shinji then focused everything on a final strike to Unit-03's face. The punch never connected with its intended target though, Unit-03 caught the purple fist and swept up Unit-01's feet so it landed on its back. When Unit-01 landed on its back, Unit-03 stomped its foot onto Unit-01's neck and held him on the ground. The black Eva then resumed to hammer Unit-02 while holding it up.

Shinji desperately struggled against Unit-03 holding him down. And when he wasn't able to free himself, that was when reality hit him in the face. _We've been holding back... We can't save Hikari...not without trying to destroy Unit-03 first. But if we destroy Unit-03, then Hikari could be killed in process... I can't kill Hikari... Oh God, what do I do...? _Shinji could feel something breaking inside of him.

Unit-02 was hanging limply from Unit-03's arm while taking the beating. "ASUKA!" Shinji screamed, "Asuka are you ok?" _NO! ASUKA! I have to do something or this damn thing is going to kill Asuka... I don't want Asuka to die! _Tears began rolling down his cheeks and he could feel the flood gates open. Emotions that Shinji had held back for 16 years...

Unit-01's eyes suddenly lit up and its mouth opened wide to let out a hollow and inhuman roar. Unit-01's hand grabbed the foot that was on its neck and pulled it aside, this caused Unit-03 to become off-balance. The purple Eva quickly stood up and hit the black Eva with an elbow to the stomach. The strike cracked the armor in Unit-03. Unit-01 quickly followed up with a punch to the face that knocked Unit-03 off its feet and loosened its grip on Unit-02. Unit-02 dropped to the ground like a rag doll, and Unit-01 pounced on Unit-03.

"YOU MOTHER FUCKER! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Shinji screamed as he continued his assault, "I DIDN'T WANT ANYONE TO DIE! IS THAT REALLY TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR?"

The purple Eva dominated over Unit-03 and hit it with enraged strength. Unit-03 tried to fight back by grabbing Unit-01's neck and punching back. Unit-01 thought this as an annoyance and crushed the forearms of the black Eva and ripped off the hands from its neck. When Unit-01 pulled the hands from its neck, a loud snap could heard from two of Unit-03's arms becoming dislocated. Unit-01 raged like a wild animal, pounding Unit-03, each blow dented or cracked the black armor. Eventually the Unit-01 began to rip off limbs and the useless armor from Unit-03.

"I'VE GIVEN UP MY ENTIRE LIFE FOR EVERYONE ELSE! I'VE DONE EVERYTHING THAT EVERYONE HAS EXPECTED OF ME! SHOULDN'T THAT MEAN THAT I DESERVE TO BE HAPPY?"

Unit-01 held the only piece of Unit-03 that was still intact, Unit-03's plug. That was when Shinji came to his senses and calmed down. He slowly looked around at the destruction that he had caused, LCL fluid in giant puddles that could've been lakes, Eva parts that had been dismembered lay all around him. It was impossible to tell that all those pieces could ever belong to an Evangelion. Finally looking at the plug that rested in his hands, Shinji tightly pulled his knees to his chest and cried.

X-X

"Shinji... Please come out, we're all worried for you..." Yui said to Unit-01, "You saved the day, Asuka and Rei are alive and well and Unit-03 is defeated."

"H...Hika...Hikari... Is she ok..?" Shinji asked in a weak raspy voice.

Yui didn't say anything.

"IS SHE OK OR NOT?" Shinji screamed.

"I'm sorry Shinji, she's dead..." Yui said, "She died the moment that the blue pattern from Unit-03 disappeared."

"No... No... NO!" Shinji cried, "I... I... killed her... I said that I was going to protect her... but no... I killed her..." Shinji cried out and sobbed.

"Please Shinji, it wasn't your fault," Yui said, "The Magi had predicted that there was a .0000009 percent chance of saving Hikari. There was nothing that you could've done about it."

"I'm a murderer... I killed her with my own hands..." Shinji said, "Because I was too angry to think straight... I took it out on her and she paid for it... "

"Baka Shinji!"

Yui looked back and saw Asuka wheeling herself on the platform in a wheelchair. "You did what you had too, to save us all. If you didn't destroy Unit-03 then we would all be dead!"

"How am I supposed to keep on living knowing that I killed Hikari!"

"You fucking idiot! You'll go on living because you must! Because there are people here that still need you! Because I need you..." Asuka said and paused for a moment. "You changed my life... Everything I did was always for me. I never did anything for anyone else unless it benefitted me in some way. But then I met you, and slowly I started to do things differently. Life wasn't just about me, it slowly started becoming about you. I love you Shinji, and I don't think I could live my life without you. So let me help you like you've helped me."

The plug suddenly ejected and Shinji climbed down from the plug and onto the platform. His mother had her arms around him as soon as his feet were planted. Asuka sat in her wheelchair and smiled at Yui holding Shinji tightly. Shinji was about to break free of his mother's grasp, but Asuka slowly shook her head and wheeled herself out of the hangar bay.

X-X

"I'll kill that little bitch!" Yui screamed as she threw her coffee mug against the wall. Fuyutski walked into the room as the cup shattered against the wall.

"I take it that you're not too happy that all of Nerv is buzzing about Asuka professed her love to Shinji in the hangar bay to get him out of Unit-01," Fuyutski said cooly.

"That little tramp isn't in love with Shinji, she just a stupid little girl who doesn't know any better," Yui said while trying to regain her composure from the sudden appearance of Fuyutski, "Give it a few months and she'll be bored with Shinji and end up breaking his heart. I can't let my Shinji be succumbed to this harlot. I got rid of one stupid girl to have her replaced by yet another."

"Even if that were to happen, the sync ratio that Shinji demonstrated today was impressive," Fuyutski stated as he pulled some documents from a portfolio. "His sync ratio was 140.7 percent. Now think about this Yui, if we can use Asuka to get Shinji to perform like this for the rest of the Angels, victory is certain to be ours."

Yui stopped to think for a moment. "We'll use Asuka as a spear... And Shinji will be forced to draw on the berserker mode to defend her. And if our little red-head should die, just another casualty. I'm impressed, that is cold even for you Professor," Yui said as her eyes met Fuyutski's cold hard stare.

X-X

A/N: I know that it doesn't seem like Shinji would ever lose himself to his rage like that, but if you guys have been paying attention to some hints I've been dropping throughout the chapters, then you guys can probably figure out what I have planned for the fight against Zeruel. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please send me your input!


	22. Whatever It Takes

Chapter 22

"You are charged with insubordinate conduct, disobeying a direct order, and commandeering an Eva for personal use," Fuyutski said to the 16 year old boy standing before him, "How do you plead to these charges?"

Shinji's blue eyes pierced Commander Fuyutski from where he stood. "I am guilty of all charges Commander, but I would do it all again if presented with the opportunity."

The teenager was not making it easy for the Commander. He couldn't just court martial the boy and remove his status as an Eva pilot, but he needed to make sure that Shinji and the rest of the Nerv staff understand his position.

"And you would risk the lives of Rei and Asuka for the sake of your foolish pride," Fuyutski said in a calm tone. "Due to your inability to take action against the 10th Angel, Asuka was nearly killed and you would have the blood of two pilots on your hands."

Shinji tightly clenched his fists. He had to agree with the Commander that Asuka almost dying was his own fault, and if he had acted sooner then Asuka would not have sustained such serious injuries.

"Pilot Ikari, this is a war for the survival of all mankind. Your actions and decisions determine the fate of us all. You will do well to remember that when you decide to act on your own again," Fuyutski said as he looked at the documents in front of him. "Major Katsuragi," Fuyutski said.

Misato stepped forward. "Yes sir." She was wearing a cast around her right arm and her forehead was wrapped with bandages. The injuries she had sustained from the damage caused by Unit-03 were light compared to some of the other personal who had been on site.

"You will be held responsible for Pilot Ikari's actions," the Commander said, "If Pilot Ikari is unable to follow orders then it will be seen as a lack of leadership from you, and will be relieved of your duties. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir!" Misato replied.

Commander Fuyutski and Shinji's eyes met. Commander Fuyutski's gaze was calm and in control, Shinji glared back at him with rage burning in his eyes that he could barely keep under control. Shinji tightly clenched his fists and looked down, he couldn't let Misato get in trouble because of him.

"Dismissed," Fuyutski commanded.

Shinji and Misato left the Commander's office together. "Phew... It's a good thing that's all the Commander gave you," Misato said to Shinji with a smile.

Shinji couldn't look Misato in the eye and let out a sigh. "I'm sorry Misato... because of me your job is now on the line. Why is it that all the people I love are always affected by the decisions that I make?"

"Shinji... It's because we have faith in you," Misato said, "We trust that you're the only one that can save us, that's why we put our lives in your hands."

"And what about Hikari? I don't think she expected me to kill me her in Unit-03? I promised that I was going to protect her!"

Misato put her arm around Shinji and pulled him close as he cried into her shoulder. "Hikari wasn't your fault Shinji. You had to destroy Unit-03 and she was an unfortunate casualty. She wouldn't want you to feel responsible for her death."

"It doesn't matter what she would want... she's dead... the truth is that I _am_ responsible... I destroyed Unit-03 causing her to die..." Shinji pulled away from Misato and walked away.

"Shinji!" Misato called to him, but the boy kept walking and never looked back. She wanted to be able to help him, but she didn't know what more she could possibly say to him.

X-X

Shinji was wearing a simple black suit, white collared shirt, a black tie, and simple black dress shoes. Asuka wore a modest black dress with black flats and her hair was tied back in a tight bun. Rei was dressed in a similar fashion as Asuka, but she wore a much older dress that Yui had worn when she was young. The trio stood at the door step of the Horaki household, it was Hikari's sister Nozomi who politely let them in and showed them to the living room where candles and incense were lit on an altar surrounding a smiling picture of Hikari. In front of the altar was a large pile of flowers that had been brought by family, friends and classmates who had already visited.

Hikari's father was kneeling in traditional Japanese manner in front of the altar, he didn't seem to notice the teenagers enter and was in a meditative trance. He was a middle-aged man who had the same color hair as Hikari, but it was beginning to show signs of gray. "Dad... More of Hikari's friends are here to pay their respects to Hikari," Nozomi called.

Horaki-san stood up from his trance and turned to face the Eva pilots. "Asuka... It's good to see you. And you must be Shinji and Rei, Hikari spoke of you two, especially you Shinji. If you don't mind, would the three of you like to have a cup of tea when the three of you are done here."

"Yes, thank you Horaki-san," Asuka politely accepted with a bow.

The three teenagers each lit an incense stick and placed it in the holder and said a prayer. Asuka hadn't shed a single tear for Hikari since she had been killed in Unit-03 a couple days ago. They were supposed to save her, but instead they had been forced to kill her because Unit-03 had overpowered all of them except for Shinji. Asuka would have gladly died in Hikari's place, but since she had lived instead, Asuka had swooped in and taken Shinji while he was weak and in grief over Hikari. She was disgusted with herself over her actions. This wasn't how she had wanted to start her relationship with Shinji. Asuka had imagined Hikari and Shinji breaking up naturally and still being good friends, and Asuka would be there to help Shinji through the break up. When enough time had passed and Shinji was ready to be with someone else, Asuka would be there to take her place by his side. But now Hikari was going to forever be a scar in Shinji's heart.

"Hikari... I'm so sorry..." Asuka whispered to herself and she felt her eyes get moist.

When the trio was done in the living room, they joined Horaki-san in the kitchen. Nozomi served them all tea and took a seat next to her father.

"Asuka, you have been Hikari's best friend since the short time that you've been in Japan and I appreciate you looking out for my daughter until now. Shinji-kun, I know that my daughter loved you dearly and I know that you felt the same way about her. I know that your heart must be in great pain, I felt the same way when my wife passed away many years ago. It was thanks to Hikari that we were all able to move on from the tragic event. It breaks my heart that we've lost Hikari too. If you ever want someone to talk to Shinji-kun, please feel free come by anytime at all."

"Thank you Horaki-san... But I don't deserve it..." Shinji replied. He tightly clenched his fists in his lap and started crying. "I'm so sorry Horaki-san... I promised that I was going to protect her... but... but..."

Horaki-san smiled at Shinji and gently reached across the table and rested his hand on Shinji's shoulder. "I know you did everything that you could to protect her, I don't doubt that. If it's not a problem... I was hoping that you could tell me about how Hikari died. Nerv had said it was all classified and wouldn't tell me anything," Horaki-san said.

Before Shinji even had a chance to start spilling everything, Asuka quickly spoke up, "The Angel that we were fighting overpowered the four of us. No matter how hard we fought against it, we weren't able to destroy it. And just when we thought that we were all going to die, Hikari provided us with an opportunity to destroy the Angel. We were able to destroy the Angel, but Hikari had sustained far too much damage from the battle and wasn't able to receive medical attention. If it had not been for Hikari, we would all be dead. I'm sorry, but those are all the details that I can divulge."

Both Horaki-san and Nozomi started crying when Asuka finished speaking. Shinji seemed to be in such shock over what Asuka had said that he was speechless and Rei's cold poker face hadn't changed a single expression the entire time. "Thank you. I'm proud that my daughter was able to fight alongside you three and she at least died for a noble cause. Thank you so much."

When the three of them left the Horaki residence Shinji was the first to speak. "You lied to them... That isn't what happened... I'm the one who killed Hikari..."

"She didn't technically lie," Rei said, "The Angel did overpower the four of us, it took over Unit-03 and almost killed the three of us. And if you hadn't destroyed the Angel when you did, third impact would've been initiated and humanity would have been destroyed."

"Hikari died a hero, and her father deserved to know that. The details of how are irrelevant. Do you think it would have made them feel better to know the truth? That you were the one that destroyed Unit-03? Is that what you really wanted to tell Hikari's father?" Asuka said.

Shinji was speechless. Asuka was right, Shinji didn't know if he would've had the courage to tell Horaki-san the truth. "You're right..." Shinji said, "Horaki-san deserves to know that Hikari was a hero."

The three of them were riding the train home and Rei stood up as the train approached the next stop.

"Rei, we're still a few stops before we need to get off. Why are you getting off here?" Shinji asked.

"I need to go to Nerv for some tests with Dr. Akagi," Rei replied, "I'll see you at home later tonight."

Rei got off the train and left Shinji and Asuka together on the train. This was the first time they had been alone together since the day they destroyed Unit-03. Both teenager became very aware of the other.

"Asuka... About what you said to me in the Eva cages... Was it all true?" Shinji suddenly asked.

Asuka looked down and didn't make eye contact with Shinji. "Yes, it was all true..."

Shinji smiled at Asuka who still wasn't making eye contact. "Thank you Asuka..." Shinji said as he reached for Asuka's hand that rested on the seat. Asuka quickly pulled her hand away from Shinji, and Shinji was surprised by the action and looked at Asuka with a frown. "Is something the matter?"

Asuka hesitated for a moment before she spoke, "Everything I said to you was true. I do love you and I don't think that I could live without you Shinji. But... you were hurt and in pain about what had happened to Hikari and I was scared for you. I didn't know what you were going to do in Unit-01 but I had a bad feeling and I thought if I didn't do something, I was going to regret it later."

"Asuka... What are you saying?"

"I love you Shinji, but I don't want to be a substitute for Hikari just because she's dead. I don't want the beginning of our relationship to be Hikari's death. I don't want you to ever look at me and think of how Hikari died. I'm not ready to be with you Shinji, and I don't think you're ready yet either, but I'll still be here for you whenever you need anything. Anything!"

_The train will be arriving at Yokohama station shortly._

Shinji stood up and walked towards the door of the train as it began to slow down. "I understand how you feel Asuka, and I'll respect your request, but I would never... ever considered you a substitute for Hikari. When I heard your words from inside the plug of Unit-01, I realized what my own personal feelings for you were, and it made me sick to know, but when I started dating Hikari while you were in that coma, she was your substitute... I'll wait for when you're ready, but I want you to know that whenever I do look at you, all I ever think about is you..."

Shinji stepped off the train and the doors slid behind him, leaving Asuka alone on the train, crying into her own hands.

"I'm such an idiot."

X-X

Ritsuko slowly opened her eyes and felt her head throbbing so hard that her skull was expanding to make room for her brain. She looked around and saw the sun shining through the windows lighting a bare white room. When she tried to move her body, all her muscles screamed in agony, so she decided to simply stay as she was. The door opened and Misato walked in, she had a bandage wrapped around her temples and her right arm was in a cast and sling, her other arm was carrying some flowers.

"You look like shit Rits," Misato asked, "You've been knocked out for a couple days now."

"Unit-03's activation test..." Rits started saying, "What happened?"

"Turns out that there was an Angel that took control of Unit-03, it was completely destroyed."

"And... What about Hikari?"

Misato looked away from Ritsuko. "She's dead..." Misato said, "They think that she died as soon as the blue pattern from Unit-03 disappeared."

"That's terrible... How's Shinji taking it?" Ritsuko asked.

"Not very well, he's blaming himself for Hikari's death."

"It's not his fault... it's Yui's fault."

"Yui is the one who got Shinji to start piloting Eva, but we can't really say that it's her fault either."

"No... Not like that. She _knew_ this was going happen..."

"How is that possible?"

"I can't tell you... not here at least," Ritsuko said, "It's possible that she is going to have me killed for what I know. Just be careful of her Misato. She has other plans for Nerv."

X-X

Shinji gazed upon the cultivated land with the various vegetables growing from the soil. Kaji had told him that people were an accumulation of experiences and interactions with other people. What kind of experiences and interactions had caused him to go berserk and kill Hikari in Unit-03? Where had all that rage and anger originated from? It was true that he sometimes felt frustrated with his upbringing because he was forced to pilot Eva, but that didn't explain the depth of that anger.

Shinji heard a rustling from the bushes and turned to see Kaji appear with some gardening tools.

"Yo Shinji, how's it going?" Kaji said in a pleasant tone.

"Kaji-san..." Shinji said, "I'm... sorry for intruding... I'll leave right now..."

"You're not intruding Shinji, it's always better to have company instead of being alone," Kaji said, "You can give me a hand with my garden."

Kaji carried over the gardening tools to where Shinji stood, gave the teenager a small shovel and told him what needed to be done. The two of them started working on the small garden in silence and it was Kaji who broke the silence.

"How're you holding up Shinji?"

Shinji didn't respond to Kaji, but just kept working on the garden in silence.

"You just lost a teammate who was also your girlfriend. I know that you think it was your fault, but it wasn't Shinji. I've told you that this is a war and there are casualties in war, you can't let Hikari's death ruin your life."

"I know... but... I can't help it..." Shinji said, "I promised that I would protect her and keep her safe! I wasn't strong enough to save her, and because of my incompetence, I almost got Rei and Asuka killed. All I wanted was to protect everyone... They always make it look so fun and easy in manga and anime."

"That's because the real world is full suffering, but that's how we know that we're alive. We fight and struggle to get whatever small amount of happiness that we can get our hands on, and we will treasure that little bit of happiness that much more because we fought for it. I'm sorry that Hikari is dead, I don't ever want you to forget about her, but remember that you still have friends and family who are alive and need you. You still need to fight and struggle for their sake."

Shinji knew that Kaji was right, he still had his own doubts, was he strong enough to fight for everyone? Misato-san, Kaji-san, Touji, Rei, his mother, and Asuka. He honestly didn't think that he had the strength that was needed to protect them, but he had no choice to find the strength necessary to protect them.

Kaji's cell phone began to ring. Kaji answered the phone and his face turned slightly pale. "Understood, I'll have the third child there in 10 minutes," Kaji said on the phone and hung up. "It's another Angel... We need to go now."

X-X

"The Angel has just destroyed the Ottawa defensive line and is making its way towards the city!"

"Is Unit-02 ready to launch?" Misato demanded.

"Asuka and Unit-02 are ready to launch!" Maya responded.

"How much of Unit-00 has been repaired?"

"Unit-00 is at 68% fighting capabilities."

The command room suddenly shook violently causing everyone to grab onto something to keep from being knocked over.

"All 24 layers of the surface armor have been vaporized!" Makoto reported.

"In a single blast? You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Misato hollered, "Launch Unit-02! Asuka is to stall the Angel for as long as possible until Unit-01 is ready to launch!"

Unit-02 was launched through the catapult and came out in Geo Front as the Angel descended upon the underground ecosystem. The red Eva hoisted a giant rail cannon from its weapon case a commenced firing upon the Angel as it entered the Geo Front. The armor piercing spikes collided with the Angel's AT field and shattered several layers of the Angel's barrier.

"I can do this! I can do this without Shinji and he won't need to fight!" Asuka said to herself, "I can protect everyone!"

Unit-02 continued to fire upon the Angel and destroyed several layers of the Angel's AT field, but there was no end to the Angel's AT fields.

"So of a bitch..." Asuka exclaimed, "He's regenerating his AT fields faster than I can destroy them."

Suddenly the Angel's eyes flashed and the area around Unit-02 exploded in an amazing flash of pink light. Unit-02 was blown back from the explosion, her umbilical cable and weapon were destroyed, and Unit-02 was damaged but still intact. The Angel reached the floor of the Geo Front with a set tentacles unfurled from its massive body. Unit-02 grabbed for a giant lance that had landed nearby and had managed to survive the explosion.

Unit-02 leapt at the Angel, soaring through the Geo Front with the lance poised to strike. Unit-02's lance crashed into the Angel's AT field and the force behind the AT field pushed the Angel into the ground. The Angel brought its two longest tentacles in and shot them at Unit-02 who was still pushing behind her lance. Asuka tried to dodge the incoming attack but lost Unit-02's right arm and took a hit to her left stomach region. The red Eva was knocked back from the Angel, and Asuka grabbed her right shoulder in immense pain.

Unit-00 rose into the Geo Front , its arms covered in bandages, not yet fully recovered from the battle with Unit-03. And tucked under its right arm like a football was an N2 mine.

"REI!" Misato cried out, "Who authorized for her to launch?"

"She went on her own!" Maya reported.

Unit-00 charged at the Angel and pushed out the N2 mine as she approached the Angel. The N2 mine collided with the Angel's AT field.

"AT field full power!" Rei commanded.

Unit-00's AT field began to slowly erode the Angel's AT field, but she wasn't strong enough to break through alone. Rei suddenly saw a red hand cover Unit-00's and push the N2 mine with her against the Angel's AT field.

"You can't do this alone Wonder Girl," Asuka said, "I won't let you become a martyr and take the credit for defeating this Angel by yourself."

The combined power of Unit-00 and Unit-02's AT fields was strong enough to erode the Angel's AT field and push the N2 mine through to the Angel's core. As soon as the mine broke through the AT field, the Angel slammed shut a pair of barrier to protect its core and the N2 mine collided against it. Unit-02 grabbed Unit-00 as soon as the N2 mine broke through the AT field, and jumped out of the way expanding its AT field at full power. The explosion from the N2 mine enveloped most of the Geo Front, scorching and killing all the plant life in it. When the smoke cleared, the Angel was untouched, and Unit-02 and 00 were sprawled out on the floor and heavily damaged.

"Asuka! Rei!" Misato screamed, "What's the status of the pilots?"

"They're alive! Barely, but they're alive."

"Send out the recovery teams to secure both the pilots! Is Unit-01 ready to launch yet?"

"He just launched!"

Shinji who had arrived at the Geo Front as the Angel descended into it and was forced to witness in horror as Unit-00 and Unit-02 were caught in the explosion of the N2 mine. The rage had built up inside him, as he thought that Rei and Asuka might both be dead. Shinji launched Unit-01 fully intending to destroy the Angel.

Unit-01 ejected from the catapult and soared through the air to pounce an Angel, but he was also stopped by the Angel's AT field. Focusing his own AT field into his arms, Unit-01 starting beating against the hexagonal shields. Each hit destroyed a layer of each field. The Angel pulled its tentacles in ready to shoot them at Unit-01. Shinji pushed off the Angel's AT field and did a back flip, Unit-01 was able to dodge the attack but its umbilical cable was severed.

Unit-01 landed on its feet and charged the Angel as soon as it landed. This time Shinji focused Unit-01's AT field at the tip of Unit-01's horn that created a cone around his Eva. Unit-01 was a charging spear and crashed through the Angel's AT field. Shinji was about to throw a punch with his left, but the Angel fired an energy blast its eyes and dismembered Unit-01's left arm.

Ignoring the pain, Shinji threw a punch with his right and a knee into the Angel's face. The Angel fell back onto the ground and Unit-01 jumped on top repeatedly punching the Angel with its one arm. Shinji was able to open up the shell protecting the Angel's core and about to destroy it when Unit-01 suddenly lost power.

"Damn it not now!" Shinji pleaded to the Eva, "Work damn you! Work!"

Shinji reached out with his mind to feel for the presence that resided in the Eva, the same presence that he fought for control every time he piloted Unit-01.

"I know you're there! I can still feel you in here! Make this damn thing work, I'll do whatever it takes!"

A ball of dim light appeared in the cockpit of the Eva.

X-X

"Unit-01 has reactivated and its synch rate is at 400%!"

"How is that possible?" Misato exclaimed.

"Shinji... No!" Yui screamed, "Cut all circuits in the Eva NOW!"

"Controls won't respond!"

The Angel had shot its tentacles at Unit-01, throwing the Eva off itself. Unit-01's eyes lit up bright red and its mouth burst open releasing the hollow inhuman roar. The Angel shot its tentacles at Unit-01 again, but Unit-01lifted its dismembered arm and an arm of pure light appeared to block the attack with an AT field. Unit-01's eyes flashed brightly and energy beams fired at the Angel slicing off its tentacles and cutting open the Angel, exposing the core. Unit-01 stalked over to where the Angel lay in pain, and aimed a fist at the Angel's core with its arm of light. Unit-01's ethereal arm opened up and released an immense force blast that crushed the Angel, leaving nothing. With the Angel defeated, Unit-01 immediately shut down.

X-X

Yui was at Shinji's bedside as he slept, Misato and Ritsuko were checking up on Asuka and Rei. When they had pulled him from Unit-01's plug, Shinji was naked while his plug suit was drifting around the plug. Yui was relieved to see that Shinji was actually in the plug, she had feared that maybe the Eva had absorbed her son like it did her husband. Shinji began to stir and opened his eyes to see Yui's smiling face. Shinji reached up and gently caressed her cheek, that sent chills down her spine.

"I can actually touch you..." Shinji said, "I've wanted to see you for so long Yui."

Yui grabbed Shinji's wrist and pulled it away from her face. "Shinji what's wrong with you?"

Shinji smiled at Yui and said, "Yui... It's me, Gendo."

A/N: Sorry that this chapter took so damn long for me to write. I didn't have any time over the summer to write because of summer classes and trips. And this fall quarter has been a hand full as well. I hope this chapter was worth that wait though! Having Gendo take over Shinji's body is something I've been planning to do since I started this story. I tried to put little hints here and there, but I don't know if I did that good of a job with that. I hope you guys will keep reading until I finish this story and tell me what you guys think.


	23. Plots

Chapter 23

"Shinji believes that he's Gendo Ikari?" Commander Fuyutski asked.

"Not exactly sir," Ritsuko explained, "Shinji's DNA is unaltered, but these are Shinji's brain waves before the battle with the Angel." Ritsuko displayed two different wave charts. "And these are from after the battle with the Angel. The brain waves are completely different with zero similarities. He is Shinji Ikari, but his brain has been reprogrammed."

"How has it affected the pilot's sync ratio with Unit-01?" Fuyutski asked.

Both Ritsuko and Misato glanced at each other briefly before Misato spoke, "His sync ratio has dropped dramatically, he's barely able to meet the activation requirement."

"This is bad... Unit-01 is our strongest weapon, get the boy running the training programs, anything we can do to increase his ratio. And continue running tests on him and see if there is any way to revert him back. We can't just lock him up can we?" Fuyutski sighed, "Brief Rei on the situation and have her escort him at all times."

"Yes sir," Ritsuko and Misato said in unison and left together.

Yui who had been silent during the meeting, sat and watched the two women leave together. She was still a little rattled from having her supposedly deceased husband manifest himself through her son.

"Yui, how did this happen?" Fuyutski asked, "I thought Gendo's soul was absorbed by Unit-01? How is he free and in Shinji's body?"

"I don't know exactly," Yui replied, "But it's possible that when Shinji reached the 400% synch rate that he was in fact absorbed by Unit-01 and when Unit-01 recreated Shinji's body, Gendo took the chance to take over the body..."

"And he would leave his own son in the Eva that he's occupied for 13 years now..." Fuyutski whispered, "I hate to say this Yui, but if we cannot get Shinji out of Unit-01, we will have to continue the plans with Gendo. We're already too far in to turn back now.

"We can continue the plans for now, but Shinji's soul will not be left to rot in that machine," Yui commanded as if she expected Fuyutski to carry out the order that second. "Gendo was always meant to be the control factor and Shinji the pilot."

"To your own husband... Didn't you ever love him?"

"He was interesting, clever, devious, and I was infatuated with him at first but I've never loved him."

"Then why marry him?"

"Because he was smart, and almost as devious as I am, but since he was so madly in love with me he never noticed my own nature. And that is what made him the perfect puppet, clever enough to assist me with my own plans, but he would never suspect me of any wrong doing."

Fuyutski felt chills run down his spine. He sympathized for Shinji, for being born from this woman of all people.

"Do you think Gendo will still agree to pilot Unit-01?"

"Of course he will, he'll do anything I want him to."

"Are you still going to kill Ritsuko?"

"Not until Shinji is returned to me safely. I'm going to need her help to find out a way to get Shinji's soul back into his body."

X-X

The sun was bright and shinning through the open window, the rays of sunlight warmed his face and skin. There was a gentle cool breeze that flowed around him, sending ripples of sensation through his arms and face, and he could feel his hair being shifted around. The metal window pane was smooth, hard, and cold against the palm of his hands. All sensations that Gendo Ikari had not felt for the last 13 years. He was not allowed to leave the Geo-Front, but it still pleased him to be able to walk around on his own.

While he was enjoying all the sensations of having a body of flesh again, he looked over at his companion. She was the spitting image of Yui, besides the fact that she had blue hair and red eyes, but looking at her made him yearn for his wife. But he had not seen his wife since he had woken in the hospital room. She was probably just shocked to find out that he had finally returned to her, but this wasn't the reunion that he had been expecting.

"Which number are you?" Gendo asked her.

"I am the third Rei."

"What happened to the first two?"

"Both died during the activation test of Unit-00. After their deaths, they decided to delay my activation test until I was older."

"And what is your relationship with my son?"

"I was informed by Dr. Ikari that I am the daughter of her dead sister, making me Shinji's cousin."

"But you know what you really are right?"

"I am a clone of Dr. Ikari combined with genetic material from Lilith."

The answer Rei gave Gendo pleased him and continued walking down the hall. As he was walking he suddenly asked, "You've been looking at me with a lot of animosity, and I doubt that animosity is for my son, so it must be for me."

"I do not understand how you, as Shinji's father, would take over his own son's body. It has been my belief that parents are supposed to protect their children. Why are you here in Shinji's body?"

Shinji's face smirked at Rei, a cold and abrasive facial expression that Rei didn't know Shinji could even make, it looked odd and inappropriate coming from his face. Rei had never been unsettled by anything she had seen in the world, everything she had ever seen seemed logical and understandable, but this smirk unnerved Rei to the point that it made her joints feel cold and sent shivers down her spine. Rei quickly regained her composure, not wanting to show the slightest bit of weakness for this imposter.

"Because Shinji's body is the only one I could possess, and that's why I refused to synch with other pilots, Shinji is of my own loins, his body is compatible with my soul. And I spent the better part of the last 13 years trying to take over his conscious, but I am proud to say that my son has grown to be a strong man, I wasn't able to get the better of him once until he willingly submitted to me to save you all. Quite noble."

Rei was shocked by his response, "And now that you have Shinji's body, will you leave his soul inside Unit-01?"

Gendo started laughing, as if it was an absurd question. "I have absolutely no intention of spending the rest of eternity inside that machine. Maybe I'll give it back once this body has become old and useless."

"So you will not pilot Unit-01?"

Gendo's mood suddenly turned sour, that wasn't something that he wanted to think about. If he got into the cockpit of Unit-01, then he risked the possibility of Shinji seizing control and retaking his body. But he couldn't hope that Nerv would allow their strongest weapon against the Angels to sit around and gather dust. Yui will protect him, she could not find a way to release his soul from Unit-01, but now that he was back, she would keep him safe.

Before Gendo had time to give a response, he noticed a very pretty red-head with clear blue eyes approach him. He had already been briefed that he was not to let anyone else know that he was Gendo Ikari in Shinji's body. She became flustered when he made eye contact with her, she stopped walking, turned around, was about to walk the other way, but stopped, turned around again and continued walking towards him and Rei. Gendo thought, what a strange girl. Why is she acting like this?

"This is Asuka Langley Sorhyu, the second child, pilot of unit-02, and a love interest of Shinji's." Rei whispered.

"Does she feel the same?" Gendo asked.

"Yes, but there are certain complications keeping them apart that I do not fully understand myself," Rei replied.

Asuka approached the two of them and greeted them "Good morning Shinji, First."

"Good morning Sorhyu-san," Rei responded.

"Morning Asuka," Gendo said with an indifferent tone. Asuka's face was surprised by the cold response and started to bite her lower lip. She looked like she wanted to say something more, but was holding back.

"Ummmm... Hey Shinji..." Asuka said as she fidgeted with her hands, "Can we talk?"

"About what?" Gendo replied.

"About... You know..." Asuka was still fidgeting and looked over at Rei, "First, could I talk to Shinji alone...?"

"I cannot allow that. I was ordered by Dr. Ikari and Commander Fuyutski to escort Shinji and to not leave his side."

"Why the hell would they order that?"

"They are worried about the possible side-effects of him having synched 400% with Unit-01. He does not appear to have any side-effects at the moment, but they want me nearby in case they do arise."

"Just leave him with me for 5 minutes and I'll make sure nothing goes wrong with him. I need to talk to him..."

"I cannot allow that."

"You little... fu... aaaahhh!" Asuka screamed and stormed off. Most likely forgetting that she even wanted to talk to Shinji in the first place.

Gendo smirked at the entire exchange. "You could've just let me talk to her. I can manage to imitate my son well enough after having synced with him for so many years now."

Rei watched Asuka leave and as soon as she was out of sight, Rei turned around and got right in Shinji's face. "I will not allow you to do anything to ruin Shinji's life. He is going to come back, and you are not going to inhabit his body longer than necessary."

Gendo's smirk quickly disappeared and he gave Rei a cold stare. "We'll see about that," Gendo said coldly and started walking off, Rei followed closely behind.

X-X

Ritsuko sat back in her chair while enjoying a cigarette with a cup of coffee. She watched an image of Unit-01's schematics being scanned over and over again. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she hoped that the Magi would be able to find it. She took a puff of her cigarette, breathed it in deeply and slowly exhaled the smoke. The white smoke desperately tried to hold itself together but gradually dissipated and became nothing. Misato appeared behind Ritsuko and place a hand on her shoulder.

"What're you doing?" Misato asked.

"I'm having the Magi run a diagnostic check on Unit-01 for any discrepancies between now and when the angels started attacking," Ritsuko replied monotonously.

"Diagnostic on Unit-01? Aren't you supposed to be trying to figure out a way to make Shinji normal again?"

"There's a lot about the Evas that we don't know about. Shinji's father was the first pilot for Unit-01, but he disappeared while he was inside the Eva during the first activation test. And now, Shinji suddenly believes that he's Gendo Ikari. I don't believe in coincidences."

The Magi completed their scan of Unit-01. Ritsuko began tapping keys on the keyboard, bringing up several charts of Unit-01 when she noticed something.

"What is this?" Ritsuko asked as she stared mesmerized by the computer screen.

"What did you find?" Misato asked.

"I don't know but it's a sections of code that has become active in Unit-01 since the Angels have attacked and it's written in a strange language," Ritsuko said, "I think the Magi might be able to translate it." Ritsuko began typing more keys and got the Magi to work translating it. When the Magi finally finished translating the language and Ritsuko began to read, she was in shock at what she was reading.

"These are the instructions for Human Instrumentality."

"They were a part of Unit-01?"

"Yes, they were encoded into Unit-01. They're conditions that Unit-01 has already fulfilled and other instructions for Unit-01 to execute later down the line once the rest of the conditions are met, kind of like a computer program."

"And what happens after the instructions are carried out?"

"I don't know... But look at this..." Ritsuko continued to read the screen.

After the contract is sealed,

12 messengers will come to challenge the children of Eve,

If any messenger should bond with the first woman Lilith,

The children of Eve will forfeit their right to the throne and be absorbed by Adam,

The blood of each messenger is to be offered to Lilith,

When the 12 messengers have been offered to Lilith,

Adam will be reborn and the path to God will be open,

And the world will be remade in the vision of the Master.

"The first woman? Wasn't the first woman Eve?" Misato asked.

"No, Eve was the second woman created, the first was Lilith. But God made Lilith from the earth, the same as Adam. So when God commanded Lilith to serve and obey Adam, she refused and was banished from Eden. That is when God created Even from Adam's bone. Christianity is such a misogynist religion," Ritsuko exclaimed.

"There are even instructions on how to create Evas, and descriptions of each of the Angels. Arael, the Angel of Birds. Azrael, the Angel of Death. Tabris, the Angel of Choice and Freedom. They've known all along about the Angels attacking, and never warned us about them. Those fucking bastards..."

"Which is exactly why we can't let anyone know that we've found this. I was worried that this might happen and I had the Magi isolate this computer from the rest of the network. No one should know that we've stumbled across this."

"Agreed, but if Nerv has known all along about this contract and the Angels and Dr. Ikari is the head of the Eva Project, then that means... Oh my God..." Misato gasped.

"Yes, most likely Yui has known all along and has been manipulating everything from the beginning. Most people don't know what she's really like, but she's a cold-hearted manipulating bitch. She'll have us killed if she knows that we've found this." Ritsuko responded.

"We have to get Shinji away from her. If she is how you say she is, then it's too dangerous for Shinji to be around her."

"Slow down Misato. Think about it now, you're Nerv's Tactical Officer. We can't do that. And besides Shinji isn't Shinji anymore, he's Gendo Ikari right now."

"Fuck! Does this thing say anything more about how to change Shinji back?"

"No, it doesn't. It says that the Eva requires a soul, and only the child or parent of that soul can operate the Eva," Ritsuko replied.

"So it really is Gendo soul walking around in Shinji's body and Shinji's soul is trapped inside Unit-01..."

"Knowing this, most likely Gendo won't want to pilot Unit-01 anymore," Ritsuko said.

"No he will pilot Unit-01. He's an idiot if he thought we would just let him walk away from all of this. And when he gets inside Unit-01, then it's up to Shinji. Gendo found a way to take over Shinji's body, and Shinji will find a way to get it back."

X-X

Yui sat in her office and was examining data from when Gendo had first piloted Unit-01. She had known that since Unit-01 did not possess a soul at the time, it would absorb the first soul that it came into contact with, but she was looking through the data in hopes that she might be able to repeat the conditions for Gendo's soul to be absorbed back into Unit-01 again. The more she looked through the data though, the less confident she was that the conditions could be repeated. She decided to pour herself a glass from a bottle of scotch she kept in the back of her bottom drawer, and lit up a cigarette. She was quietly enjoying her smoke and scotch when her door suddenly opened.

Shinji's head poked its way through the door and he quietly walked in and closed the door behind him. Yui became irritated that her husband thought he could just walk-in on her as he pleased, even Shinji had the courtesy to knock before coming in.

Shinji smiled at his wife as she drank her scotch and took a puff from her cigarette and said, "I haven't seen you smoke since before you were pregnant with Shinji." He walked over to Yui's desk and pulled out a glass from her bottom drawer. Helping himself to a glass of his wife's scotch, he took a sip and started coughing hard. Shinji cleared his throat, after regaining his composure he started to laugh, "I guess Shinji's body isn't used to drinking? From what I can tell he's grown up to be an obedient mama's boy." He started laughing again and took another sip but a little more slowly and carefully.

"That is our son you're talking about," Yui replied.

"Yes, but I've just missed you so much Yui," Gendo said, "I've wanted to touch you so badly..."

Shinji's hand reached out to caress Yui's face, but Yui brushed his hand away and stood up from her seat.

"I've missed you too..." She said, and pulled Shinji close to her, "But how could you do this to our son? I've been looking for a way to get you back your body, and I was getting close but the Angels started attacking and I've been forced to focus on that."

Shinji smiled at Yui, "I knew you were trying to find a way to bring me back."

"Yes, I will get your body back, I promise you. So please don't let our son stay in Unit-01 longer than he has too. I've missed you, but please bring me back my boy..." And Yui started to weep into Shinji's shoulder.

"I'm sorry Yui... I never planned for this to be permanent, but I just wanted to see you so badly." He lifted her chin towards his face and slowly moved his face closer to hers, but Yui turned away.

"Gendo... I can't... Not while you're in Shinji's body... I'm sorry..." Yui said with tears still streaming down her face. She sniffled and took a deep breath. "I will get you your body back and when I do..." She gave him an alluring smile and hugged him tightly again. "I have some work that I still need to finish, but we can go get some dinner after I'm done."

"That would be nice," Gendo said, gave Yui a peck on the cheek and left her in the office.

Rei was waiting for Gendo when he got outside the office. He smirked to himself and made sure that doll couldn't see, it looks like his wife had become quite talented at manipulating those around her_. _

_I believed and trusted you once, thirteen years ago but I will not be fooled again. I've planned and waited for this opportunity for so many years, and I will have my revenge Yui, Seele, and anyone who was responsible for leaving me in that machine for all these years. She actually thought I wanted my old back? I'm in a young strong teenage body again, with all the years of knowledge and experience that I gathered in my 30 years of living, before my soul was sucked up into that machine. And there's also that ripe little red-head who's in love with Shinji. When was the last time Yui and I had sex? Ohhh... I'm going to have some fun with this girl..._

X-X

A/N: So this is a relatively short chapter, but it was a good way for me to get into the saddle. Sorry it took me so long to release this short little chapter, but I'm an English Major, and when you're writing 8-10 page papers for class, you don't really feel like doing any sort of writing for fun. Everyone, thanks for your patience and for the support. I think I said this last year, but I'll definitely try to be more diligent from now on.


End file.
